
Class LS_£A£k 

Book ^5 

Copyright N° 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT: 



SCHOOL REPORTS 

AND 

SCHOOL EFFICIENCY 



•The 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

NEW YORK • BOSTON ■ CHICAGO 
ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN & CO., Limited 

LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. 

TORONTO 



SCHOOL REPORTS 



AND 



SCHOOL EFFICIENCY 



BY 

DAVID S. SNEDDEN, Ph.D. 
ii 

AND 

WILLIAM H. ALLEN, Ph.D. 

FOR 

THE NEW YORK COMMITTEE ON PHYSICAL 
WELFARE OF SCFIOOL CHILDREN 



Nefa ffotfc 

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

1908 

All rights reserved 



JUBRARY of COWSSESS.! 
Two Copies Heceivgg 1 

WiAR & 1908 I 

OoiwriKirt ciurj- 

jGLHSs4- AXc. rtu 

COHY S. 



Copyright, 1908, 
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. 



Set up and electrotyped. Published February, 1908. 



Notrjjooti Press 

J. S. Cushing Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. 

Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

Introduction vii 



I. The Purposes of Educational Statistics. (Pro- 
fessor Snedden) I 

II. The Beginnings of School Reports in American 

Cities. (Professor Snedden) . . . .11 

III. Efforts of the National Educational Association 

to improve School Reports and to secure Uni- 
formity. (Dr. Allen) 20 

IV. Examples of Tables and Other Forms of Pre- 

senting School Facts, used in Typical City 
School Reports. (Professor Snedden) . . 28 

V. Important Questions not answered by Existing 

Reports. (Professor Snedden and Dr. Allen) 116 

VI. Suggested Economies and Improvements for School 

Reports. (Professor Snedden) . . . .128 

VII. A Practical Study of One School Report (New 

York City). (Dr. Allen) 151 

Index 179 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2011 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/schoolreportssch02sned 



INTRODUCTION 

The origin of this study of school reports dates back to 
1904, when the board of education of New York City an- 
nounced that for want of funds it must curtail its vacation 
and night schools, recreation centers and popular lectures. 

Representatives of several civic organizations met to dis- 
cuss what seemed to them a wrong to the children and 
parents of congested districts. Without exception they 
sided with the school authorities against the fiscal authori- 
ties who had demanded school retrenchment. They were 
about to vote a protest when one delegate asked how many 
people would be injured by cutting off the so-called social 
features of the schools. No one knew ; nor did any one know 
whether there was any truth in the Comptroller's statement 
that the board of education had money enough to do its 
intended work without curtailment if it would use economi- 
cally the funds already voted it. The protest was deferred 
and a Committee on Facts appointed. 

An investigation was conducted by the Association for 
Improving the Condition of the Poor, which had supported 
the first vacation schools in 1894, six in 1895 and 1896, and 
ten in 1897. The attempt to show from official reports 
that due economy was being employed proved futile. In 
the absence of proof of economy and efficiency on the part 
of the schools that had spent the money, it was obviously im- 
possible to charge with bad faith or error those who demanded 
retrenchment. Thus an inquiry, started (1904) for the pur- 
pose of increasing the school appropriation, ended in an 



Vlll INTRODUCTION 

appeal (1905) to the board of education to get more service 
for the moneys received, and to adopt records and reports 
that would "arouse public sentiment when the occasion 
demands" and "defend the educational value and the cost 
of any and all of your educational policies." 

The adoption of business methods in a few instances by 
different committees resulted promptly in savings here of 
$200,000, there of $300,000, now of $13,000 on lead pencils, 
again of $113,000 on coal, these savings being used for ad- 
ditional service. In 1906 the board of education finally 
adopted resolutions admitting the need for improved account- 
ing, and instructed its auditing department to institute 
necessary changes. 

During the period 1904 to 1906 several grave questions of 
school policy agitated the public mind, — part time vs. full 
day; "fads and frills"; free meals; flexible grading; pro- 
motion by subject; teachers' salaries. Almost without 
exception these questions were discussed on theoretical and 
personal grounds, just as if New York had been without 
experience. When supposed facts were offered in evidence, 
they were controverted. Reports did not help settle contro- 
versy as to fact. No one ever knew what the truth was; 
it was simply known that this or that side won or that the 
leaders of two sides had "come together." 

When year after year the board of education was given 
a million or two less than it asked for, it seemed clear that 
the children of New York City were paying a very high price 
for want of information as to school conditions on the part 
of school board, fiscal authorities, newspapers, and volunteers 
anxious to increase school efficiency. Would the same method 
of settling school questions according to theory, personality, 
or compromise be used in meeting the demand for free 
lunches, for free eyeglasses, for material relief at school, 
for a revised curriculum, for less home study, for correction 
of physical defects, for industrial training fitted to the child 



INTRODUCTION ix 

and to industry? With the conviction that reasoning from 
fact to policy would improve policy, enhance the efficiency 
of the schools, increase their support, and settle questions 
so that they would stay settled until conditions changed, — 
the New York Association for Improving the Condition of 
the Poor obtained funds for a three-years trial of the fact 
method of interpreting school needs and school merit. The 
Committee on Physical Welfare of School Children was 
organized in May, 1906, to undertake the following pro- 
gramme : 

1. Study of the Physical Welfare of School Children. 

(a) Examination of board of health records of 

children needing medical, dental, or ocular 
care, and better nourishment. 

(b) Home visitation of such children, in order to 

ascertain whether their need arises from defi- 
cient income or from other causes. 

(c) Effort to secure proper treatment, either from 

parents, or from free clinics or other established 
agencies. 

(d) Effort to secure proper physical surroundings 

of children while at school, — playgrounds, 
baths, etc. 

2. Effort to secure establishment of such a system of 

school records and reports as will disclose auto- 
matically significant school facts, — e.g. regarding 
backward pupils, truancy, regularity of attendance, 
registered children not attending, sickness, physical 
defects, etc. 

3. Effort to utilize information regarding school needs 

so as to stimulate public interest and thus aid in 
securing adequate appropriations to meet school 
needs. 
At the end of the first year three studies are ready for 
publication : 



X INTRODUCTION 

i. Examination of the Home Conditions of fourteen hun- 
dred Families whose Children were discovered by School Phy- 
sicians to have Physical Defects. 2. Investigation of Fifty 
School Buildings in Answer to the Question, Does School 
Environment cause and aggravate Physical Defects? 3. A 
Comparative Study of School Reporting. The first proves 
that physical defects are due to home conditions that are not 
confined to the very poor nor to the immigrant parent, and 
points to change in home conditions as the best means of 
helping the individual child. The second confirms and 
explains the statement recently made at a conference on 
child welfare by a school principal, — "Our buildings, our 
curriculum, and our home study are manufacturing more 
defects than the physician and nurse and dispensary can 
correct." The third study is here presented. For its con- 
tent the Committee is chiefly indebted to two of its members, 
David S. Snedden, Ph.D., Adjunct Professor of School Ad- 
ministration, Teachers College, and William H. Allen, Ph.D., 
formerly General Agent of the Association for Improving the 
Condition of the Poor and now Secretary of the Bureau of 
Municipal Research. The idea of presenting forms already 
in use for reporting significant school facts, we owe to several 
school commissioners who listened with scant indulgence to 
reasons for adequate reports, but welcomed heartily concrete 
evidences that other cities found properly classified school 
statistics convenient and suggestive in directing their schools. 

We know no better proof that knowledge leads to con- 
structive action than the committee's use of its own intimate 
knowledge of a few facts regarding physical welfare condi- 
tions. Thousands of children have been given fresh-air 
outings and winter relief; the homes of these children have 
received aid when needed from relief agencies; additional 
funds have been secured for medical school inspection and 
nursing, and a proposal defeated to use $33,000 of this fund 
for other purposes; a hastily considered plan to give away 



INTRODUCTION xi 

eyeglasses, regardless of parent's ability to pay, has been 
postponed if not defeated ; hospitals, dispensaries, charitable 
agencies are cooperating, so far as they know how, with 
principals and superintendents to secure prompt remedy for 
physical defects; a directory of dispensaries and hospitals 
has been prepared for the use of principals and teachers; 
momentum has been added to the demand for healthy chil- 
dren ; no little part has been played in showing the need for 
physical examination of all children in all schools in all 
sections of the country and of all children applying for work 
certificates. Finally, the use made of school facts shows that 
the volunteer informed can accomplish infinitely more for 
the schools he aims to help than the volunteer half-informed 
or uninformed. No public activity needs the intelligent 
cooperation of the so-called outsider more than our public 
schools. When public education associations look to school 
reports for indications of need for volunteer effort, effective 
intelligent cooperation between school, home, and volunteer 
agency will be possible. It is hoped that this publication 
will not only help individual school officers in their efforts to 
secure effective publicity as to the needs of their schools, but 
will also hasten the day of uniform school reports. 

The New York Committee on Physical Welfare of 
School Children. 

Charles C. Burlingham, Chairman. 



( 



CHAPTER I 

The Purposes of Educational Statistics 

The published school report has come to be a characteris- 
tic feature of school administration in American cities. In 
the larger cities this report has become a plump volume 
and, as a rule, is published annually. The major part of the 
report is usually prepared by or under the direction of the 
superintendent of schools. It often serves, therefore, as an 
index of his capacity and energy in directing the educational 
work of his city. 

The typical city school report is made up largely of a dis- 
cussion of the progress of educational interests, discussions 
and exhibits of educational needs, and a series of tables deal- 
ing statistically with the main facts of school finance, atten- 
dance, etc. Occasionally many pages are devoted to the 
names of teachers, the course of study, and the rules and 
regulations of the board of education. Sometimes a consider- 
able part of the report is taken up with the reports made 
to the superintendent by heads of departments, supervisors, 
and other special officers. 

On its face the city school report emanates from the board 
of education and is addressed to the public which the board 
serves. The larger the city and the more complex its edu- 
cational interests, the greater the need for some regular 
channel of communication between members of the board and 
the patrons and supporters of the public schools. The pub- 
lished report may be said to have been evolved to meet the 
need for this communication. The democratic and local 
character of education in America explains why this report 



2 EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 

has assumed its present size, form, and detail of development, 
so unlike the reports issued in foreign cities with equally 
elaborate systems of education. 

The published city school report has taken its present 
form during the last fifty or sixty years. Originally it was 
little more than a running account, periodically published, 
outlining the organization of the schools and showing the 
amount of money spent on them. But in time there de- 
veloped the custom of presenting rather elaborate showings 
of educational facts, and for compactness and intelligibility, 
these assumed the form of statistical tables which are now so 
characteristic a part of the report. Probably the most promi- 
nent condition affecting the form and extent of these tables 
has been the obligation of the city to report, at stated inter- 
vals, to the state educational department certain facts which 
had to be arranged in statistical form, such as expenditure, 
census, enrollment, attendance, graduations, etc. It naturally 
became customary to republish in the city report the tables 
prepared for the state. In a few instances it is found, also, 
that the form of report required by the Bureau of Education 
at Washington has determined the character of some of the 
tables in local reports. 

A second cause of the present form of statistical presenta- 
tion in many reports can be traced to the energy and initia- 
tive of various superintendents who have undertaken to give 
in most effective form the facts concerning those phases of 
administration which they most cared to affect. In some 
reports careful tables of teachers' salaries have been de- 
veloped under the influence of a desire to improve the condi- 
tion of the teaching force. Distributed tables of attendance 
or graphic presentations of these facts have been devised to 
show to the public the great and unwarranted falling off in 
school attendance. Tables showing the occupations of 
parents whose children attend the high schools have been 
prepared to counteract the belief that these schools were for 



THE PURPOSES OF EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 3 

the prosperous only. Similar causes have evolved tables 
showing relationship between age and grade of pupils; the 
professional education of teachers; the percentages of all 
children of school age who are found in school. 

Because the force of custom is strong it is not unusual 
to find that extensive tables are published year after year, 
even though the reason for their original publication no 
longer holds. Not infrequently, as a result, the city report 
contains extensive tables that are probably never examined 
by a member of the board of education or by a citizen. Worse 
than this, the tables presented are often simply masses of 
figures, put together in such a fashion, and so lacking in con- 
densed interpretations, that the average reader is not able 
to extract from them the information that they are supposed 
to convey. 

It is evident that in any city school system there is avail- 
able for publication a far greater mass of statistical facts than 
it is practicable to print. Tables of indefinite extent might 
be compiled, even from records at present available, but it 
would be a useless expense to print these tables unless such 
publication served some distinct educational purpose. Not 
infrequently there arises a popular demand for informa- 
tion regarding some phase of education and in response elabo- 
rate tables of data are presented. But the failure of the 
authorities to marshal this information with reference to some 
specific end prevents the citizen who cares to study the schools 
of his city from obtaining any clear view, and the effect on 
school administration in general is the reverse of helpful. 
There are not a few departments of local and general govern- 
ment in which the assembling and printing of statistics have 
come to be ends in themselves, rather than means to distinctly 
conceived ends of publicity and administrative control. 

It has been suggested that the most general aim in the pub- 
lication of school reports has been publicity. An analysis 
of the several aims that may be subserved by school reports 



4 EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 

will show that the following are typical as determining the 
character and standards, especially of the statistical matter. 

a. The report may be simply a restatement of the facts 
and figures collected for state or national statistics. In such 
cases the classification and form will be vague and general 
from the standpoint of local conditions, and will lack all 
semblance of interpretation in terms of local conditions or 
demands. The statistics of education published in state 
and national reports are sufficiently lacking in interpretation 
and abridged statement ; and when the tables which a given 
city has prepared for those reports are simply republished, 
very seldom indeed can the interested citizen or local legislator 
obtain answers to specific questions concerning local educa- 
tional conditions. 

b. Reports may present statistics of education or other 
social phenomena in such a way as to interest and appeal 
primarily to the student. While this is rarely the case at 
the present time, it is possible that with the introduction of a 
greater number of specialists into the school systems of our 
cities, there might develop a tendency to make statistical re- 
ports of so technical a character that only the special student 
could follow and interpret them. 

c. The published report may be designed primarily for 
the use of the administrative staff of the school system. 
Here again the presentation would possibly be quite tech- 
nical and would assume such an acquaintance with the 
organization and procedures of the school system as could 
hardly be expected from the layman. For the administra- 
tive officers it would be possible to omit much in the way 
of condensation and interpretation and explanation, owing 
to the character of the information naturally possessed by 
the administrative officers. Tables of statistics organized 
primarily for this purpose would prove of little use to the 
layman. It happens that in not a few fields of professional 
work, the end of administrative service rather than publicity 



THE PURPOSES OF EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 5 

determines the character of published reports. But in most 
of these cases publicity in the ordinary sense is not a promi- 
nent factor, as the institutions concerned are not primarily 
supported and controlled as public, and hence are in a measure 
freed from the obligation of publicity. 

d. The fourth practicable aim, therefore, in statistical 
presentations might be publicity, in the sense that the lay- 
man of average intelligence, but of more than average inter- 
est, might have the information he seeks. Back of all our 
public institutions are a number of individuals, laymen of 
only average intelligence, who constitute the true support 
of such institutions in that they mainly determine public 
opinion as it affects the support and control of such institu- 
tions. These are the men who compose the boards and com- 
mittees and who stand between the taxpayers and the insti- 
tutions ; these are the people who should possess the largest 
possible command of the facts regarding the social cost and 
service of these institutions. Strong sentiment they usually 
have; but knowledge they frequently lack and, in the long 
run, such lack of knowledge greatly handicaps their effective- 
ness. 

The school report may be designed primarily to appeal 
to this class of persons and to provide the facts and to facili- 
tate the deductions that will affect their interest and action. 
It is entirely possible to study the capacity of these laymen 
to deal with statistical presentations. While, as before 
stated, it seems probable that many school reports are de- 
signed for this purpose, it is no less probable that few of them 
at all adequately serve such an end. 

The ends of efficient publicity, so far as laymen are con- 
cerned, can be met only by the adoption of a special method 
designed for this purpose. What this method is we are but 
beginning to learn, for only seldom has the art of making 
and presenting statistics been turned in this direction. Not 
only must facts be presented statistically, but they must 



6 EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 

be so presented as to disclose their significance, even to 
the hurried reader. Summaries, comparative statements of 
totals or percentages, so arranged that the eye may instantly 
perceive relationship, reductions to average, or other and 
more significant digested statements, graphical presentations 
— all these are among the devices that are slowly developing. 
Some of the recent reports of the bureaus or departments 
of the national government indicate an extended use of these 
devices making for efficient publicity ; notably, those from 
the bureaus of immigration, census, and labor. 

For the layman interpretation is certainly not an unim- 
portant feature of all statistics. This interpretation is 
largely a matter of arrangement and presentation, and need 
involve no personal element on the part of the compiler. The 
approach to this sort of publicity must be largely from the 
side of questions asked, information desired on specific 
points, etc., and in light of these questions it becomes entirely 
feasible to marshal material so that the questions are answered 
with no intrusion of personal factors. This, of course, is 
not always the case, but under the best handling of statistical 
material by modern methods, it is more feasible than is 
commonly supposed. Of course, we do not ignore the fact 
that there is much in the way of the interpretation of statistics 
which can be accomplished by highly refined and technical 
methods. But this form of interpretation rarely applies to 
the type of question that may be asked by the citizen who 
is concerned with the ordinary concrete facts of administra- 
tion. For him an abundance of information can be supplied 
without resort to technical means. 

It will hardly be denied that the last two of the purposes 
above enumerated are those that ought primarily to be met 
by the published school report ; and of the two, the last or 
publicity aim is the one that must mainly determine the form 
of presentation. 

A difference must be noted between reports made to the 



THE PURPOSES OF EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 7 

superintendent of schools by the supervisors and heads of 
departments, the reports of the superintendent, auditor, and 
committees to the board of education, all of which may be 
in writing, on the one hand ; and the published report on the 
other. For administrative purposes the written report, 
except possibly in the largest cities, may largely serve all 
necessary ends. These written reports may and should be 
very extensive and should include the statistics of a variety 
of activities and investigations that need not necessarily 
have a place in the published report. For this reason it 
ought by no means to be assumed that the published report 
contains all the statistical presentations that should be em- 
ployed in administration ; rather it ought to be assumed that 
the published report presents mainly those showings to which 
it is important to give wide publicity, to the end that the 
patrons of the school and other interested citizens may be 
able to procure all information which concerns any con- 
siderable number of the public. This object is well stated in 
one of the earlier reports of the Boston School Committee 
(1857) when, after discussing the various special reports 
that shall be made to the board by the several committees, 
it quotes from the rules of the board : 

"These reports shall be referred to a special committee of the board, 
who shall make from them such selections as they shall deem important 
for public information, and shall add thereto such suggestions and 
remarks as they shall deem expedient, and their report, when accepted 
by this board, shall be printed for distribution among the citizens. 

'"Evidently from the foregoing rule,' reads the preliminary section 
of the published report, 'the object of the annual report of the school 
board is, not to discuss theories or general principles of education for 
the enlightenment or satisfaction of its own members, but to present 
facts, to give information to the citizens of Boston — their constituents, 
— on the condition, character, wants, claims of the public schools, — 
that great system of public instruction which these citizens sustain in 
conformity to the laws of the Commonwealth, and at an expense exceed- 
ing that of any other department of public interest or service in the 



8 EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 

city, — and to discuss principles only incidentally and in connection 
with these facts.' " 



There can be little doubt, then, that the published school 
report should be regarded essentially and primarily as a com- 
munication from the board of education and the superintend- 
ent of schools to the public. It is designed to inform the 
more intelligent and interested portion of the public as to the 
status of the schools, and to command hearing and support 
for the progressive policies of the system of public education. 
American education is essentially democratic. It relies 
on the public, not only for support, but for endorsement and 
encouragement. Without the intelligent cooperation of the 
public, no school system can long maintain high standards 
of efficiency, and must largely fail to realize its full usefulness. 
Especially in proportion as education grows complex and 
increasingly expensive, something more is needed than vague, 
though enthusiastic faith in it, if progress and effectiveness 
are to be attained. 

In the main, the methods that will give the maximum 
of publicity regarding school facts will probably result also 
in providing the most effective basis for school administra- 
tion. The effort to keep the system close to the people, 
and the exhibition of conditions, progress, and results which 
can and should be made in order to answer the needs of 
publicity, will in most cases produce the knowledge and 
feeling of responsibility that most fully contribute to admin- 
istrative ends. Hence we may safely say that the primary 
standard for school reports should be effective publicity, 
remembering that such publicity will, in the long run, also 
very greatly contribute means and incentives to administra- 
tive success. 

When tested by such standards, what can be said of the 
published reports of the American cities ? The next chapter 
will show some stages in the evolution of such reports, from 



THE PURPOSES OF EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 9 

which we can easily arrive at the conviction thai, considering 
conditions as they once were in education, substantial prog- 
ress has been made in the direction of publicity and admin- 
istrative control through reports and especially through 
their statistical features. A subsequent chapter will show 
in detail what may now be found in the way of exhibits of 
facts by statistical means in the most effective examples 
found in contemporary reports. An examination of even 
the best reports, however, will show that only in certain 
respects do these attain to any full degree of genuine pub- 
licity. In other words, many of the questions that might, 
from the standpoint of civic interest or enlightenment, be 
asked, remain unanswered. Owing to the neglect of special 
fields of educational inquiry, or to cumbersome and faulty 
methods, sometimes to apparent unwillingness to inform 
the public fully, many of the reports give only incomplete 
and unsatisfactory answers to the questions and issues that 
require light. Taken in a composite way, however, the best 
contemporary reports present devices for answering a large 
number of such questions, and, thus taken, they suggest an 
arrangement of means and methods that might and probably 
would result in a form for a report far superior to any one 
of them. 

In the light of the showing made through a collation of 
the best features of existing reports, it would seem possible 
to criticise any given report; and this has been attempted 
in Chapter VII. Let it be repeated that to present statis- 
tical answers to all the possible questions that could be raised 
regarding a city school system would require so much space 
and time as at once to negative any such proposal ; but, as 
will be shown later, one of the primary aims in educational 
statistics should be to accomplish far more than is now ac- 
complished in any given report, and yet with less expenditure 
of time and money. It must be insisted that the business 
world, owing to the pressure of competition, has evolved 



IO EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 

means and measures which combine the ends of effective 
statistical presentation with economy, and that it is prac- 
ticable for our city school systems to do likewise. The 
problem of doing so is not wholly a simple one ; but that it is 
capable of solution no one can doubt. 



CHAPTER II 

The Beginnings of School Reports in American 
Cities 

The main features of city school reports can be best un- 
derstood if we make some note of the evolutionary steps 
in their development. It would seem that the custom of 
issuing formal printed reports developed during the second 
quarter of the nineteenth century. During this period 
also the office of city school superintendent began to assume 
something of its present proportions. Until very recent 
years it did not exist in European schools. It did not de- 
velop from the teaching or faculty side of the school system, 
but from the board of education, which required the services 
at first of a clerk and then of an officer who could combine 
with his knowledge of clerical duties the expert knowledge 
necessary to inspect and report on the work of the schools. 

As executive officer and educational expert for the board, 
the superintendent was expected to report his observations 
and recommendations, and it was but a step farther to 
publish his report as part of the annual report of the board 
of education. If the superintendent was progressive, he 
made careful studies of the needs of the city system, and 
presented elaborate recommendations to his board. 

Accompanying this movement was also one in the direction 
of centralizing the administration of city schools. Orig- 
inally in many cities school administration had been divided 
among a number of districts or wards with local boards. 
As cities grew and educational systems were consolidated, 
it was but natural that statistical methods should develop 
of presenting some of the main facts with which administra- 



12 EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 

tion was concerned. In many states it was necessary for 
a city board of education, through clerk or superintendent, 
to make an annual or biennial report to the state authorities 
regarding such matters as expenditure, census, attendance, 
graduates, certification of teachers, and kindred facts. 
Having the data thus available, the superintendent would 
include them in the published report of the city school 
system. 

Few of the earliest city school reports are now available. 
It would appear, however, from the numbers assigned to 
subsequent issues that Philadelphia published its first report 
as early as 1818; Cleveland in 1834 or 1836; New York 
and Rochester in 1843; Syracuse in 1847; Chicago and 
San Francisco in 1853; and St. Louis and Brooklyn in 1854. 

An examination of the earlier accessible reports shows 
that they were generally not unlike the reports now issued 
by many of the smaller cities. The work of the school 
system was described in a popular form. Considerable 
space was given to the discussion of new theories of educa- 
tion, and along with this the needs of the system were por- 
trayed as fully as possible with a view to arousing more 
extended popular support. Often a directory of schools 
and teachers is given, together with salaries and grades of 
certificate held. To these were added examination ques- 
tions, courses of study, programs for teachers' meetings, 
lists of graduates from the elementary schools, or of those 
who had succeeded in passing examinations for admission 
to the high schools, and addresses by members of the board 
of education. Any elaborate presentation of educational 
statistics was rare. Totals of receipt and expenditure are 
usually given, classified according to some half dozen di- 
visions; also the totals of school attendance, sometimes 
distributed among the different schools; and occasionally 
some other facts are presented in tabular form. An ex- 
amination of the statistical presentations made in a few of 



SCHOOL REPORTS IN AMERICAN CITIES 13 

the early city reports will show what was attempted in the 
best of them. 

Philadelphia's 17th annual school report was published 
in 1835. It consists of twelve pages, giving detailed in- 
formation, in form of running account, regarding the indi- 
vidual schools. The 26th report for the same city (1844) 
consists of 96 pages and shows, among other lines of in- 
formation, the following facts presented statistically : occupa- 
tion of fathers of graduates from the high school; average 
of marks made by the candidates from various elementary 
schools for admission to the high school, with number ad- 
mitted and number rejected; detailed tables for each school, 
showing such facts as attendance divided as to sex, salaries, 
and names of teachers ; and a table of expenses of education, 
classified by wards. 

Cleveland's 21st annual report (1855) gives tables of 
attendance in the various schools classified by subjects 
studied (second reader, penmanship, etc.), and also a census 
enumeration of children distributed by wards, together with 
the usual brief classified statement of expenditures. There 
is detailed description in tabular form of school buildings. 
Space is given also to the school time-tables. 

Chicago's 3d report (1856) contains 64 pages of matter, 
mostly general description. There is in addition a list of 
teachers, with salaries paid. 

New Haven's 1st report (1857) presents to taxpayers 
the totals for ordinary expenses, with itemized account of 
extraordinary expenses. There is also a two-page table 
showing in detail the registration at each school, and in 
each grade, for each of four terms. 

Boston's School Committee published in 1857 a well- 
printed and bound volume of 352 pages. A resolution 
notes that 12,500 copies were printed. Considerable space 
is given to long lists of pupils winning medals, and to the 
rules and regulations of the school committee. Of especial 



I 4 EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 

interest is a detailed description of school buildings in tabular 
form showing such facts as date of erection, number of rooms, 
number of seats, cost, interest payments, character of heat- 
ing, total number of pupils registered and average attend- 
ance, etc. Another elaborate table distributes by schools 
the number of children, teachers, salary totals, and cost 
per pupil in average attendance in terms both of salary 
charge and of additional expense charge. 

San Francisco's earliest available report is the 14th, dated 
1867. This is an elaborate affair, and includes tables on 
such matters as: occupations of parents of high school 
pupils; comparative salaries in several large cities; lists of 
teachers, including name, place of education, professional 
education, diploma, teaching experience, and length of 
service in California; cost of education of pupils per 
month and year; detailed salary list of teachers; and 
very suggestive detailed statements of the receipts and 
expenditures of the system for a series of years. 

Syracuse had a striking statistical feature in its 20th 
school report (1867), i.e. a table showing the main facts 
regarding pupils, arranged comparatively for a series of 
years. Number of children registered in the system, average 
daily attendance, total cases of absence and tardiness, 
number of pupils per teacher, cost per pupil, amounts paid 
for salaries, number of volumes drawn from library, and 
some other facts are thus shown. This compact table would 
be creditable to-day. 

Table i. From Report of Syracuse Schools, 
1863-1867 

Number of children between ages of 5 and 21. 

Number of children registered, exclusive of those transferred. 

Number of children belonging (approximate). 

Number of children average daily attendance. 

Number of days absence. 



SCHOOL KKPORTS IN AMERICAN CITIES 15 

Number of cases of tardiness. 

Time lost in hours. 

Number of teachers employed at close of year. 

Number of pupils per teacher on average number belonging. 

Number of pupils per teacher on average attendance. 

Cost of tuition per pupil on average number belonging. 

Cost for entire expenses per pupil, exclusive of building, etc. 

Number of pupils attending winter school. 

Number of volumes in Central Library. 

Number of volumes drawn during year. 

Amount paid for teachers' wages. 

Amount paid for other expenses. 

Total expenses, exclusive of buildings. 

Another table from the Syracuse report shows expenses 
of the system distributed by schools, though not reduced 
to unit basis for comparison. Place is given in this report 
for detailed statement of attendance at teachers' meetings. 

Rochester's earliest available report, the 29th (1872), 
is a substantial book of 188 pages. Table No. 1 shows 
average number of teachers in each school, total sums paid 
for salaries in each, and the customary facts of registration. 
Table No. 2 is an exhibit of the ages of the pupils in each 
school, giving a column for each year between the ages of 
five and twenty. Table No. 3 shows attendance in each 
school by months. Another valuable table shows for each 
school the number of pupils, by two month groups, who 
made the respective attendances; of a full ten months, of 
less than ten and more than eight months, of less than eight 
and more than six months, etc., — these also averaged. 
Another table, distributed again for schools, shows the num- 
ber of children by grades and the sittings in each school. 
Still another table shows the number of pupils of each school, 
taking the various studies. In Table No. 8 an attempt 
is made to show the work of the respective schools by giving, 
for each school and for each grade in each school, the average 
percentage made in the annual examinations. The next 



1 6 EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 

table shows the number of pupils promoted out of each 
grade and by schools. By careful arrangement there is thus 
compacted into nine pages an extensive and varied amount 
of information, worked out to much detail, for a school 
system registering over eight thousand pupils. 

The 16th St. Louis report (1870) is another that shows, 
at a relatively early date, an extensive use of the statistical 
method. A double page table shows the expenditures for 
each school classified under nine main heads. Another 
double page shows the following facts regarding plant: 
location of building, front and depth measurements of lots; 
names of schools; estimated value of land; estimated 
value of houses and furniture for each school ; size of build- 
ings; number of stories; number of rooms; number of 
seats; and character of heating. Table No. 2 shows for each 
school the total enrollment, and the attendance distributed by 
twenty day groups, i.e. the number of pupils in each school 
who have made 200 days attendance, the number who have 
made more than 180 and less than 200 days attendance, etc. 
A separate set of tables is given for the colored schools. Table 
No. 3 gives the age distribution of pupils in each school. 
One regrets that it did not occur to the compiler of the 
statistics to adopt a simple device by which he could have 
shown the relation of age to grade; but this is done even 
at the present time in very few reports. A novel feature 
is a carefully compiled table showing the occupations of 
parents or guardians of all children, — items given first 
with regard to pupils in the high schools, evidently with 
a view to refuting the charge that these schools were for the 
wealthy classes. Another unique table is one showing, by 
schools, the birthplaces of pupils registered. Table 6, 
the excellence of which is equaled in few more recent reports, 
presents on a double page the facts (distributed by schools) 
regarding enrollment, duplicate registration, average num- 
ber belonging, average number of teachers, expenditures 



SCHOOL REPORTS IN AMERICAN CITIES 17 

for teachers' salaries, rate per pupil for salaries, incidental 
expenditures, and rate per pupil, etc. Another table shows, 
by schools, the number of pupils in each grade receiving 
instruction in German, numbers of these of German and of 
Anglo-American nativity, also the proportion of each school 
taking German. Still another valuable table shows salaries 
paid to teachers for each school and each salary class, e.g. 
all those receiving $400 per year, all receiving $500, etc. 
Another table shows for twenty years the early growth of 
the school system in number of schools, number of seats, 
number of pupils, number of teachers, receipts, expenditures, 
etc. Still another table shows the growth of the high school 
for seventeen years, the boys and girls in each class for each 
year, etc. Finally, not the least interesting feature of this 
old report is the fact that the various tables are discussed by 
the superintendent so as to suggest their significance to any 
reader interested in the progress of education. It should 
be noted that many, though not all, of the excellent statistical 
features of the St. Louis reports had developed prior to 1870. 
For example, the report issued in 1866 under the superin- 
tendency of Ira Divoll shows many of the suggestive tables 
noted above. 

What appears to have been the eighth annual report of 
the board of education of New York was published in 1850. 
It is a closely printed volume of 130 pages. Scattered 
through it are numerous tables that group the facts of at- 
tendance, expenditure, etc., by city wards. Fairly definite 
statistics are presented regarding: salaries of teachers; 
number of pupils in each ward classified by sex; three age 
groups (i.e. under sixteen, between sixteen and twenty-one, 
and over twenty-one, and also classified by degree of ad- 
vancement, e.g. "could not read," "lowest grade of reading," 
"acquainted with the simple rules of arithmetic," etc.); 
attendance distributed by typical weeks. An interesting 
comparative table shows the result of an examination of 



1 8 EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 

the pupils in several wards, the effect of which is to indicate 
the relative efficiency of the schools. 

Of school reports issued since 1870, it may be said that 
very few indeed have risen to a higher level of statistical 
efficiency than did the best of that date. It is a conspicuous 
fact that there has been so little conformity to any generally 
accepted plan of presenting educational statistics that it is 
even yet quite impossible to compare one city with another, 
from their published reports, even in the matter of school 
expenditure, the statistics of which show the most com- 
plete development. Each city has evolved local forms 
and methods, and in each city the report reflects the quality 
of the man chiefly responsible for its making. A few cities 
established the tradition of publishing certain statistics in 
a chronological order, so that it becomes possible to view 
the progress of education in that city over a long series of 
years. In other reports, despite the frequent changes of 
superintendent, certain forms of statistical statement have 
become traditional, so that it is possible for the student to 
compare the development of the system year by year through 
an examination of old reports. 

The National Educational Association became effective 
about 1870 as a factor in education, and in its division of 
superintendence many efforts have been made to improve 
the matter of school statistics. But it can hardly be said 
that any distinct improvement in methods of school report- 
ing has taken place in nearly forty years. The best of the 
reports noted above, in their statistical work, are not in- 
ferior to most of the reports of to-day. Some forms of 
summary or general report have been suggested from time 
to time by the National Educational Association through 
committees, but these have not been widely adopted. At 
their best the city school reports of to-day, as in 1870, pre- 
sent valuable tables and a few interpretations of these tables. 
They answer some of the questions that an intelligent lay- 



SCHOOL REPORTS IN AMERICAN CITIES 19 

man might wish to ask, and they provide some of the data 
for administrative control of the system of administration. 
Even the best of the reports, however, leave many questions 
unanswered, and few of them have undertaken to apply 
modern or scientific statistical methods. Apart from the 
few best reports, it must be said that the majority of the 
reports fail conspicuously to provide statistical information 
either to the layman or to the administrator. They illus- 
trate a striking phase of inefficiency in American municipal 
administration. 



CHAPTER III 

Efforts of the National Educational Association to 
improve School Reports and to secure Uniformity 

Nowhere has the need for school facts as the basis for 
school policy been more emphatically and convincingly 
presented than at the sessions of the National Educational 
Association. Not only have superintendents been advised 
to analyze statistically and to interpret their own experience, 
but they have been repeatedly exhorted to use a common 
language, uniform statistical blanks, in describing their 
experience. In the year 1905 Miss Halle D. Woods of the 
New York Association for Improving the Condition of the 
Poor read the reports of the National Educational Association 
from 1858 to 1905 and prepared a digest of all discussions 
of statistics of schools. With her permission we are pre- 
senting in brief the essential facts to make matter of per- 
manent record the effort of the country's foremost educators 
to improve school reports and to secure their uniformity. 

The subject of school statistics was seriously considered 
during the years 1859, 1863, 1872, 1874, 1877, 1881, 1885, 
1886, 1887, 1889, 1890, 1891, 1892, 1895, 1897, 1899, 1900, 
1903, 1904. 

At its second meeting (1859) the National Educational 
Association appointed a committee of three to confer with 
the Secretary of the Interior "to ascertain what additional 
statistics in relation to the subject of education are desirable 
and feasible to obtain by means of the approaching national 
census." A list of important items recommended for 



UNIFORMITY OF SCHOOL REPORTS 21 

school reports included: (i) cost of buildings and the 
number of pupils accommodated; (2) number and salaries 
of teachers in these buildings; (3) expense of heat; (4) 
repairs and incidentals. "These items," they commented, 
"if reliable and accompanied by proper explanations in 
the body of the report, will afford valuable means of com- 
parison, and be serviceable in showing the most economical 
modes of constructing schoolhouses and organizing schools." 
Perhaps the most valuable part of the committee's report was 
that noting the difficulty of ascertaining and comparing the 
cost per pupil in different districts. There were many 
variations of terminology, a difference of 50 per cent being 
produced by a variation in method of recording. The 
committee therefore pleaded for uniformity and urged that 
as long as differences existed reports should clearly explain 
their nomenclature. 

In 1863 a Committee on General Statistics was appointed 
to prepare blanks covering the field of general statistics, to 
send out to schools throughout the country, to digest 
reports when returned, and to present a synopsis at the 
next annual meeting. Nothing further was heard from 
this committee. 

In 1872 the Hon. John Eaton, United States Commissioner 
of Education, delivered an address on the subject of Edu- 
cational Lessons in Statistics, emphasizing again the two 
watchwords, comparison and uniformity. Educational 
statistics were characterized as "so diverse and incomplete 
that they form but the records of so many single experiences, 
incapable of being aggregated or contrasted with each other." 
He pleaded for a legalized system of comparable reports. 
Others present voiced the wonder, which we now feel, that 
a National Commissioner of Education who realized the 
need for uniformity should have failed to reduce his own 
valuable material to a comparable basis. What would have 
been the gain to education in this country if at that time the 



22 EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 

National Bureau of Education had secured, as it undoubtedly 
could have secured, uniform records from the various states, 
more particularly from the cities ! 

In 1874 a Committee on Statistical Reforms suggested a 
uniform system of collecting and tabulating educational facts. 
The National Educational Association adopted the report, and 
authorized the printing and distribution in each state of blanks 
calling for uniform statistics as to school population, age, aver- 
age in daily attendance, number of rooms, teachers, and 
salaries as well as items of income and expenditure. Results 
were to be tabulated by the National Bureau of Education. 
As usually happens when representative bodies vote decrees 
without supplying funds for executing those decrees, nothing 
came of the results, and in 1877 a speaker pronounced the 
statistics of that day "almost useless at home and absolutely 
useless abroad as standards of comparison." Among the 
causes for these useless statistics were mentioned public 
indifference, official indifference, lack of authority on the 
part of officials to secure proper returns, lack of uniform 
understanding as to meaning of terms, and an endeavor on 
the part of those who compile statistics to prove certain 
preconceived opinions. 

In 1 88 1 a committee of ten on Unification of School Statis- 
tics was appointed as a result of a discussion introduced by Su- 
perintendent Andrew McMillan of Utica. There is no record 
in the annals of the National Educational Association of work 
done by this committee. Lack of uniformity was characterized 
as follows: "With the ample provision made by the govern- 
ment for collecting facts connected with schools, it would seem 
that we have but to turn to official reports to obtain all de- 
sired information. But it is just here we are confronted by 
an obstacle of no small dimensions, and which, so far as I 
know, exists nowhere else in the wide domain of statistical 
research. I refer to the lack of uniformity in the methods of 
collecting facts and data pertaining to school work in the 



UNIFORMITY OF SCHOOL REPORTS 23 

different stales of the Union . . . School reports are nearly 
useless for purposes of useful comparison." 

In 1885 a careful study of existing city and state reports 
was presented. After applauding at length the merits of 
American school reports and their reputation abroad, va- 
rious defects were brought out, more particularly lack of 
uniformity and consequent impossibility to establish units of 
comparison. For example, the term school age was found to 
have sixteen interpretations ranging from 4 to 15 to 16 to 21. 
Thus it was possible for Springfield, Mass., and Portland, 
Me., to report a difference of 4000 in school population be- 
cause of a difference in the years included in school age, 
although their total population was practically the same. 
Perhaps the reason so little came from this discussion and the 
committee's eighteen recommendations as to annual reports, 
is that they were perfectly satisfied to have the legal and 
census school age from 4 to 21, thus including children too 
young to go to school and too old to go to school. Aside 
from the usual emphasis on the importance of uniform 
nomenclature and a resolution that further committees be 
appointed to consider uniform methods, this discussion led 
to one important recommendation ; namely, that all reports 
begin with a statistical summary. At another section of the 
same conference the Committee on Reform in Educational 
Statistics presented an elaborate scheme covering school 
population with 10 subdivisions; departments of educational 
work, 4 subdivisions; teachers, buildings, and appliances, 
6 subdivisions; finances, including receipts, 6 subdivisions; 
expenditures, 6 subdivisions. As a result of this work there 
was marked improvement in the increasing tendency to 
uniformity as well as to elaboration in the reports of state 
superintendents. 

In 1887 a report was presented on "Points for Constant 
Consideration in the Statistics of Education." There was 
the same eloquent declaration that "the more nearly statistics 



24 EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 

approach a universal language the better;" but no new ideas 
were contributed. It was still possible for Mr. Gove of 
Denver to say "Volunteer statistics are monstrously unre- 
liable ; city statistical reports are jammed full of tables whose 
conclusions cannot be made use of. We need a positive 
authority to put questions and demand answers; a power 
above us to get reliable statements of fact." (Referring to 
state and national superintendents and to professional stand- 
ards among schoolmen.) 

In 1887 we hear the first suggestion that physiology and 
social conditions might be reflected in school statistics: 

"Of average pupils little need be said; but with erratic cases many 
statistics might be collected which would be invaluable. If a pupil 
makes a poor record in a certain subject, it would be interesting, as an 
educational fact, to know his age, habits, how long in a public school, 
his teachers, how long under each one, whether he had private teachers, 
home influences, tendencies of his parents' minds ; in short, to know the 
boy as he is. School statistics should enter into the social conditions of 
the people." 

In 1890 the Department of Superintendence heard of the 
need for proper "School Statistics as the Basis of Legislative 
or Official Action: What Should Be Collected and How?" 
The advanced ground was taken that "to secure the best 
results in legislation, statistics of education must be taken 
as complementary to other social statistics, as illiteracy, 
crime, and wealth." What might have been of greater 
importance is the emphasis upon making immediate or local 
application of statistics for the benefit of the schools analyzed 
and compared. That statistics were being used by many 
superintendents to bolster up official policy rather than to 
disclose school need, is suggested by the remark of Dr. Win- 
ship, Editor of the Journal 0} Education, — "We throw 
out our banners, commit ourselves to our idea, and then back 
up such and so many statistics as will enable us to make a 
skillful argument." 



UNIFORMITY OF SCHOOL REPORTS 25 

In 1891 Dr. Harris, Commissioner of the United States 
Bureau of Education, as Chairman of a committee of three, 
reported on school statistics. (The report was really a scien- 
tific article on the meaning and value of statistics in general 
and of educational statistics in particular.) The essence of 
his message was "directive power is dependent upon insight 
into the forces that work, which insight is to be gained only by 
statistics. This insight is of even greater value to the educa- 
tors who are doing the work than to the legislators who are 
judging their work." The Association received a letter from 
the United States Census Bureau protesting that "no item of 
school statistics is now uniformly recorded throughout the 
country" and outlining desirable statistical information 
similar to the scheme previously presented. 

In 1892 a more elaborate form of reporting was sub- 
mitted, based, however, on the same general plan as before, 
with the larger number of subdivisions including a few items 
regarding social conditions. 

In 1894 Commissioner Harris read a paper on School 
Statistics and Morals, deducing certain relations between 
lack of education and crime. 

In 1895 further suggestions were made for reports. 

In 1899 the Department of Superintendence discussed 
uniform financial reports. 

In 1900 high school statistics was the special subject, a 
paper being based upon comparison of 23 cities as to average 
cost of maintaining high schools per pupil enrolled and per 
pupil in average attendance. Of special value are recommen- 
dations as to collecting, tabulating, and reporting information 
on the comparative persistence of attendance during the four 
years of high school work, together with special investigations 
as to manual training schools, their work, and their discover- 
able results. Superintendent Greenwood of Kansas City 
made this subject vital by showing results of a personal study 
of reasons why so many children left school in the first year 



26 EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 

of the high school course, tabulating facts as to age of leaving 
and causes, number of failures by years and classes, etc. 

In 1903 and 1904 were discussed children with defective 
sight, hearing, and methods of discovering such children. 
There was no effort to relate the physical defect with class 
standing or mental ability. Nor at that time was the impor- 
tance of thorough physical examination of all school children 
brought out. 

In 1905, known as the New York Meeting (Asbury Park), 
the subject of statistics had no place on the program. At 
one of the sessions, however, of the National Council of 
Education, the Secretary of the Massachusetts State Board 
of Education complained that it is still impossible to obtain 
comparable school data and pleaded for uniformity of method 
in recording school facts. 

In 1906 there was no convention, the earthquake having 
made it impossible for San Francisco to entertain the 
delegates. 

The advance program of 1907 promises at least one 
topic, The School Board's Attitude toward the Press, which 
lends itself to an eloquent plea for the proper use of the 
statistical method in describing school experience. 

A new impetus to uniformity of school statistics has been 
given by the interest taken in the subject by the present 
Commissioner of Education, Hon. Elmer E. Brown. Com- 
missioner Brown, in a letter dated June 4, 1907, writes, — 
"It has been suggested that a meeting be called at Washing- 
ton of the state superintendents of this country for discussion 
of such matters as uniformity in state school statistics and in 
laws covering the state school census. It has not yet been 
decided whether such a conference will be held, but the talk 
that I have had with a few state superintendents seems 
favorable to such a meeting, and I am very hopeful that I 
may be able to bring it about within the next year." It may 
be expected that a small working conference attended by 



UNIFORMITY OF SCHOOL REPORTS 27 

the stale superintendents will lead not only to reendorscment 
of the principles favoring uniformity of school statistics, but 
to definite action that will furnish the basis of comparison not 
only of state with state but of city with city. There is at 
present a disposition at Washington to take more seriously 
the opportunity and the responsibility of the National Bureau 
of Education and to make more generous provision for its 
work. The one thing lacking in the past has been money 
with which to translate into action the desire for clearness and 
uniformity. The state superintendents will undoubtedly 
find it practicable to follow the lead of the National Com- 
missioner of Education to the end that it shall be easy for 
everybody to do what everybody has so long professed to 
want to do. 



CHAPTER IV 

Examples of Tables and Other Forms of Presenting 
School Facts, used in Typical City School Reports 

It has previously been noted that in the matter of forms 
for presenting statistical information each city school system 
has for the most part worked out its methods independently. 
A study of the forms used shows wide and interesting varia- 
tion. Barring certain staple matters of statistics, there is 
much diversity in the kind of facts reported. In some cities 
matters of finance are most exhaustively treated; in others, 
school attendance ; and in still others it is the new educational 
ventures that receive the most attention from the local statis- 
tician. Too many published reports show a tendency simply 
to print the accumulated data of balance sheets, school 
registers, and the detailed reports of departments. 

But out of the many varieties of form used the reader will 
discover some that are especially significant. In this chapter 
an attempt is made to assemble representative tables and 
diagrams, under the various heads commonly used. As a 
rule only so much of a table is presented as to show the essen- 
tial features; and it has seemed worth while to include with 
certain forms the actual published figures. Almost all the 
tables are taken from reports issued between 1901 and 1906. 
No very full discussion of the forms is given, as the table 
usually speaks for itself. 

Of course it is not assumed that all or any considerable 
number of tables like those shown ought to be used in any one 

28 



TABLES AND FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS 29 

school report. In Chapter VI will be discussed matters of 
content and economy as involved in the publishing of a report. 
The object here has been solely to present a wide variety of 
forms — some of them quite long and involved — that seem in 
some measure to meet the conditions hitherto discussed with 
reference to statistics of school facts, publicity, and admin- 
istrative control. No table has been used which does not 
seem to contain some feature of presentation entitling it to 
consideration. 

School Plant 

The following are some of the forms of report on school 
plant. In the first two it will be noted that cost of plant and 
seating capacity are included, while in the second the relation 
of seating capacity to attendance is shown : 

Table 2. Detroit * 

LIST AND DESCRIPTION OF BUILDINGS AND VALUATION 
OF REAL ESTATE AND BUILDINGS 





Name 


Ward 


When 
Erected 


Material 


Kind of Roof 


No. of 
Stories 


No. of 
Rooms 


Seating 
Capacity 


Bagley .... 


1 
16 
10 


1898 
189s 
1884 


Brick . 
Brick . 
Brick . 


Metal and Slate 
Slate .... 
Shingle . . . 


2 
2 
2 


12 
12 
6 


511 
580 
306 



Name 


How Heated 


Value of 
Site 


Cost of 
Building 


Total 


Bagley .... 


Smead Furnaces .... 


$4,400 
5,000 
3.700 


$34,500 
38,150 
15,900 


$38,900 
43.150 
19,600 



* Attention is called to the fact that for the illustrative purposes of this 
report sample entries only are made from the tables reproduced. Figures 
which have no bearing on the present discussion have often been omitted, 
and money items are, in most cases, given in round numbers only. 



3° 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 



Table 3. Detroit 

LOCATION, NUMBER OF ROOMS, SEATING CAPACITY, 
AVERAGE ATTENDANCE, ETC., JUNE, 1905 







1 




CJ 




*t2 *-• 

O (3 










td 


fci-d 


63 !x 








13 

C/2 


3 l- 
« 3 


Is 


E e 

g 1 " 


Schools 


Location 


0-4 


« 


<>H 


ft° 


£2 






h n 


,_, 




iu^w 


O 






-S.S 


.a 




«? ft 


soy 






s 

3 


a 

3 





n 3 

S<5 


£H 






£ 


£ 


<! 


<; 


< 


Alger . . . 


Mott near Woodward 


12 


552 


426 


32 


13* 


Amos . . . 


Military and Regular 


12 


589 


577 


40 


144 


Bagley . . 


Fourteenth and Pine . . 


6 


296 


217 


31 


7 



Considerably more detailed is the report of plant given in 
Springfield. A column is set apart in which to describe the 
condition of each building. Although inadequate, a one- 
word description is worth far more than no description at all, 
and will probably prove more effective as a means of publicity 
than a detailed running account of school deficiencies. 
Furthermore, as in the case of unusual variations in compara- 
tive statistics, it becomes quite feasible for the interested 
citizen to find elsewhere a more adequate description of 
buildings marked "poor," etc. 

Table 4. Springfield, Mass. 
TABLE GIVING A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SCHOOL 
PROPERTY; ALSO THE VALUE OF SCHOOLHOUSES 
AND LOTS, ETC. 







m 







J2 




g 




m 


s 





CD 
tig 


a; 




ft 


Buildings 


'u 

M 


in 


■s! 




<u 

C/2 


Condition 


3 
u 


O 




S 


u 



u 




""3 








£> 


,n 


.0.2 


* 9 











s 


B 


Hi 


S" 5 




<L> 






3 


3 


3-2 


3 








b= 


fc 


fc 


£ 


£ 




O 


Alden Street . . 


B 


2 


4 




168 


Good . 


I89O 


Armory Street . . 


B 


2 


11 


2 


433 


New . 


I90I 


Barrows .... 


B 


3 


10 


I 


460 


Good . 


1868 



TABLES AND FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS 31 



Buildings 


Healing 

A|I|KI 

ratus 


Value of 
Land 


Value of 
Buildings 


\ alur i>l 

Furni- 
ture 


Total 


Area, Lots 
(sq. ft.) 


Alden Street . . 
Armory Street . . 
Barrows .... 


Steam 
Steam 
Steam 


$2,500 

3,000 

T 0,000 


$14,200 

56,79 2 
40,000 


$306 

2,100 

789 


$17,006 
61,892 
50,789 


18,767 
131,860 

37,637 



Buffalo's report also gives very explicit information, 
though it does not attempt to describe the condition or value 
as does the preceding; but it gives much more information 
regarding the capacity and character of accommodations in 
the school building. 

Table 5. Buffalo 

SCHOOL BUILDINGS — FEBRUARY, 1905. DESCRIPTION 





a 

a 
& 
O 


u 

fa 



M 




CO 


School Rooms 


Rooms 


School 


>• 

S 

<u 

< 



.2 

'u 




Total 












Area 


Cubic Con- 
tents 


X 


C H. S. . . 
M. P. H. S. . 


1853 
1897 
1903 
1897 


B 
B 
B 
B 


3 
3 
3 
3 


I 
I 
I 


22 
23 
19 


4 
11 
12 
16 


27 
3S 
32 
16 


28,610 
44,100 
36,280 
10,630 


409,560 
617,430 
612,210 
138,480 






2 


L. H. S. . . 

No. 1 . . . 


1 


I 


2 





Sittings 


Blackboard 


O m 

s ° 

gco 

fa 53 
Eg 

CO 


c 
„ 

fa ,3 
S s 

5 


13 u 

"o 
CM 


K 
O 

if 

fa 


Telephone 


School 


p 

<u 

"5b 

.a 

CO 




M 
CO 

a, 




S 


s 

S 


Bell 


u 

•2. 

fl 



C H. S. . . 
M. P. H. S. . 
L. H. S. . . 

No. 1 . . . 


828 
1,056 
1,090 

909 


45o 

2,177 

859 


949 
1,300 

1,187 
54 


I,2IO 

2,l80 

2,378 

84O 


144 

So 


S 
S 

S 

s 


p 
p 
p 
p 


3 
6 

5 
10 


171 
138 

293 

279 


S 1364 
B 362 
N 256 
T3342 


5120 

5121 
5122 

5180 



New Haven's table compares the size and number of sit- 
tings in various buildings with attendance, and has the 



32 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 



advantage of showing at a glance how far the supply of sittings 
corresponds with the needs. Even here no attempt is made to 
show deficiencies or oversupply for pupils of different ages. 
A complete showing of accommodations would exhibit these 
facts by individual schools. 

Table 6. New Haven 

TABLE SHOWING THE ATTENDANCE, ETC., AT ALL 
SCHOOLS DURING THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 28, 1904 



School 


1 





73 


so 
£ 


OT3 
<D to 


>> 

'd u 

<d"2 


< 8 

^ d 

5"2 


u 
d 
u 

J3 


>> 

-0 


a 
a 

3 


_0J 

d 
a 

3 


9) 

60 




<& 


to 


■^.2 


2 <U 


ta u 


6« 


< 


H 


H 


H 


F* 












£# 


£< 


S3"" 











<u 




'A 


£ 


H 


<J 


< 


ft 


E 


£ 


fc 


£5 


< 


Strong 


18 


990 


994 


856.8 


81O.9 


94.6 


16,885 


333 


9 


19 


II.O 


Lenox Street . . . 


I 


42 


40 


39-7 


36-7 


92.4 


1,221 


54 






6.7 


Quinnipiac Street 


4 


I92 


210 


179.1 


l6l.O 


89.9 


7,292 


149 






9.8 



Another form in which sittings are shown with fair com- 
pleteness is in the Newark Report: 

Table 7. Newark 

CLASS ROOMS AND SEATING CAPACITY 





Class Rooms 


Seating Capacity 


Building 


c 
u 

c 

£ 
u 

ft 


si 

d 


d 
< 

as 

d <u 
<o d 
# 

d 


13 
"d 

pq 

0> 11, 

|.a 

O 
ft 

d 


>> 



OS bo 

*a d 
'■§§ 

& PQ 
d 


73 


H 


a J 
I* 

si 




d 

V 

S 

60 

d 


73 
fc-< 


•3 

U 

3> 

O. 


lH 

ft 


Normal and Training . . 

Normal Department . . 

Training Department . . 
Webster Street Training . . 


4 
11 
10 


I 








5 
11 

10 


370 
376 


70 

So 


260 
440 
456 


224 
440 
440 

























TABLES AND FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS 33 

A special table found in the New York report gives by 
boroughs the total of sittings and deficiencies. 

Table 8. New York 



Borough 


Number of Regular 
Sittings as Re- 
ported by the 
Principals Sept. 
30, 1906 


Number of Pupils 
on Register Sept. 
30, 1906, exclud- 
ing Kindergarten 
Children 


Deficiency of 
Sittings 


Excess of 
Sittings 


Manhattan 

The Bronx 

Brooklyn 

Queens 

Richmond 


274,548 
56,863 

188,246 
40,411 
14,359 


258,103 
51,068 

200,043 
38,461 

n,353 


n,797 


16,445 

5,795 

1,95° 
3,006 


Entire City 


574,427 


559,° 28 




15,399 



A special type of table expresses the cost of school buildings 
in terms of the cost per unit or sitting. This form of table 
is rare, the following being one devised in order to compare 
cost of buildings among various cities : 



Table 9. New Haven 

COST OF HIGH SCHOOL BUILDINGS RECENTLY ERECTED 
IN NEW ENGLAND 

HIGH SCHOOLS 





u 


-6 


•a 
d 


-a 

a 




'w v 






w 


3 

PQ 


hr, M 


aj 


„ 


O.T3 


3 


School 


"S-S 


ho 




5 P 

.§3 



U 

n 




u 
















>2 u 






Q 


U 


> 


w 


H 


A =« 





Cambridge, English 


1891 


$206,000 


$14,000 


$11,000 


$231,000 


700 


$330 


Lowell .... 


1893 


150,000 


10,000 


11,000 


171,000 


734 


233 



34 EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 



The Cost of Education 

The tax-paying public is peculiarly interested in the cost 
of education. This cost steadily increases with the develop- 
ment of educational methods. Not only are salaries raised, 
and paid for longer terms, but the tendency is toward more 
expensive books, and improved apparatus of every kind. 
In the larger municipalities the cost of public education is 
from one fourth to one half the total budget. While generally 
acquiescing in increased outlay for the schools, the average 
taxpayer tends to grow suspicious of the wisdom and economy 
of the school system. Mismanagement and extravagance 
are, of course, possible in certain channels of school expendi- 
ture, but the chief and more frequent fault is failure to get 
results commensurate with outlay. 

It is true that no school report can adequately show how 
efficiently school appropriations are expended. Neverthe- 
less statistical showings can be devised that will clear up many 
doubts, indicate lines of enlightening inquiry, and enable the 
citizen to understand at least the essential facts. 

The subject may be viewed from several standpoints : 

Totals of expenditure, classified by items for an entire 
system ; 

Totals of expenditure classified by schools or divisions of the 
system, and under these more or less itemized ; 

Expenditures of different parts compared by the percentage 
that each forms of the total. This is valuable for comparing 
a series of years or different schools or different cities. 

Expenditures compared by reduction to some basis of at- 
tendance as a unit, and compared over a series of years or 
among different schools. 

Under the first head, totals of expenditure classified by items, 
we have illustrations in the two following tables arranged to 
show the expenditure by classified items over a series of years. 



TABLES AND FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS 35 



By this means any obvious increase or decrease becomes 
apparent, and may be made the subject of detailed in- 
quiry. 

Table 10. Cincinnati 

COMPARISON OF EXPENDITURES FOR THE YEARS 

1895-1905 





Year Ending 
August 31, 1895 


Year Ending 
August 31, 1900 


Year Ending 
August 31, 1905 


Teachers, Day Schools . . 
Teachers, Night Schools . . 
Officers and Examiners . . 


$669,752 
9,606 

1,641 

5,678 


$799,286 

6,6l2 

16,646 

3,502 
4,643 


$815,719 

8,321 

17,792 


Rent 




Fuel 




Advertising 

Gas 




Text Books and Supplement- 
Teachers' Institute .... 
Interest and Redemption of 

Public Library 

Deaf -Mute Taxes .... 
Transfer of Funds .... 
Apparatus 


13,448 
3,284 


Totals 









36 EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 

Table ii. Cleveland 

COMPARISON OF EXPENDITURES 



August 31 


1900 


1905 


Tuition 

Supervisors' salaries 

Maintenance 

Officers' and employees' salaries .... 

Repairs 


$37,4o6 
897,190 

118,664 
1,295 


$50,964 
1,314,660 

184,144 


Stationery and supplies 

Contingent 


i°,335 


Water 

Fixed Charges 

Bonds 

Furniture and fixtures 

Permanent Improvements 

Land 


Buildings 




Grading, paving, etc 




Improvement existing buildings .... 
Miscellaneous 

School books 




St. Louis Exposition 

Supplementary reading books 




Total 











Another form of classification used in some reports is to 
give the totals of expenditure among the different classes of 
schools, as, e.g., primary, high, vacation, etc. By increasing 
the number of columns this form of classification may be 
extended over a series of years as illustrated in the previous 



TABLES AND FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS 37 

tables. For a given year a very complete general presentation 
may be made by the form adopted in the Rrookline report, 
where items of expenditure are classified in one way as to 
class and in the other as to type of school. 

Table 12. Brookline 

GENERAL SUMMARY OF SCHOOL EXPENDITURES 





High 
Schools 


-0 
3 >, 

0.1 

|£ 



a 

<u 
u 
d 
ho 

O 

a 
3 


h 01 

3 ho V 

g.ss 


W 2 
O 


O a, 
O 

H 


Evening 
Schools 


Salaries-^ T . 
































Text and Reference Books .... 

Supplies — Manual Training . . . 
Supplies — Domestic Arts .... 
Tools — Manual Training .... 
Power — Manual Training .... 
Furniture and Fixtures 

Heating — Repairs Heating Apparatus 

Expenses, Supt. and Clerk .... 
















Truants — Expense and Support . . 




Total Expenses (excepting Salaries) 
















Total Ordinary Expense .... 
















Total Cost of Maintenance . . . 












1 





In a few cases the statement of expenditures shows cost 
of each school. Where the expenditure of each school is 
presented in classified form, the ease with which the citizen 
may learn the main facts of school expense is much increased. 
The following table illustrates this point : 



38 EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 

Table 13. Detroit 

EXPENDITURES IN DETAIL 

MAINTENANCE OF SCHOOLS 







"3 

1)2 



oj 
<u 

H 


"Sis 
s.a-§ 

O bo ctf 

i—i 


Fuel 


Light 

and 

Motor 


Repairs 


School 




■s 


is 

3 




$9,725.00 


$1,260.00 
1,260.00 


$423.81 
389.98 




$105.01 

25.81 


$l8l.75 
57.22 



School 


•3 
1 

a 

a 

O 


-0 

IS 

PES 


a 

1 
d 


R 

O *J 

u 



a) 
<& 


c 

S 


1 

in 


Total 




$140.00 


$47-59 
13-97 




$22.00 
16.00 




$1.60 
4.40 


$11,906.76 
11,093.38 



It is evident, however, that while the Detroit table expresses 
in considerable detail the cost of each school, it does not relate 
the cost to the amount of work done by the school. The 
following table shows an excellent classification, and also, 
by the contrivance of introducing the number of pupils in 
average daily attendance, presents in compact form for instant 
comparison the cost per pupil of each school. The sug- 
gestive character of this table is further evident when we see 
that in case the interest of the reader becomes fixed on any 
particular item of expenditure, he can readily find by divi- 
sion, a per capita statement for this expenditure which may 
be compared with the same for other schools. For exam- 
ple it would not be difficult to trace extravagance in the use 
of school supplies by this means. 



TABLES AND FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS 39 

Table 14. Brookline 

COST OF CONDUCTING THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOR THE 
YEAR ENDING JANUARY 31, 1906 

(Compiled from the books of the Accounting Department) 

HIGH SCHOOL 





Salaries 


Heating 


Text-Books, Supplies, and Incidentals 


School 


tn 

J3 
O 

a 

<D 



"3 

a 
I—, 


1 
fa 


03 en 
H 

a 

.§< 





■gpq 

H 


■a 

1° 
H 

(D 

ft 
c4 

Oh 


u 

13 
S 

d-g 

'[s 
es 
u 

Q 


a, 
3 
co 

OS 



43 

1-1 


3 
O 

d.H 

3 ft 

<U 3 


a 

ft 
=) 

CO 

8 

•a 

1— , 


W 

2°" 

'a 

a 
1— 1 


High . . 

























GRAMMAR AND PRIMARY SCHOOLS 



Cabot . 
Devotion 
Heath . 



HIGH SCHOOL 



School 



tf.g 

O »H 

"SO 



4> „: 

■an 



■a jj 

6^ 









S: 



Cost per 
Pupil 



133 

■M 



Total Cost 



High . 



424 



5.63 



GRAMMAR AND PRIMARY SCHOOLS 



Cabot . 
Devotion 
Heath . 









IOO 


$31-90 










342 


37-09 










266 


40.69 





So far as public understanding is concerned, it is a distinct 
advance in bookkeeping when school reports show classified 



40 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 



totals of expenditure. But, as indicated in the case of the 
Brookline table, it is still better when cost is expressed jn 
terms of some unit that makes true comparison possible. 
Over a series of years it is impracticable to make comparisons 
of totals alone, since population and the number of children to 
be educated is constantly changing. Hence the desirability of 
expressing expenditures in terms of some unit that permits 
comparison of one year with another, of one school with another, 
or of one school system with another. Three devices have 
been employed to meet this need. The first and most com- 
mon is to express expenditure in terms of each child attending 
during the year. Not only the total cost, but also the expendi- 
ture for various classes of items may be expressed in terms of 
this unit. The following is a good example of a simple table 
reduced to the unit basis and permitting ready comparison 
over a series of years. 

Table 15. Cincinnati 

SCHOOL EXPENSES, CINCINNATI, 

1834 to 1905, Inclusive 











CO 






. _ y. 




1 -^ 1 


1 w 


, , 


Fiscal Years 
Ending in 


a 
a 


"3 

CO 


A 

cdtJ 

O Oh 

S3 S 


■3, 

"Si 

J2* 


— .-a 
O g B 




per Pupil — 
erage Daily 
tendance on 
tal Expenses 


per Pupil — 
tal Enrollmen 
Teachers' Sal 
es 


per Pupil — 
erage Daily 
endance on 
ichers' Salarie 


"rt-Q 
1=3 -3 




d 





a 

3 


B 

3 


%.B< 


SH§ 


S«H 


OP O at 




af§ S3 




H 


H 


ft 


ft 


ft 


u 


u 


u. 


O 


< 


1904 . . . 






















1905 . . . 























A similar table for New Haven runs over fifteen years and 
shows, among other valuable items, the exact cost of the 
free text-books supplied the children in that city. 



TABLES AND FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS 41 

Table 16. New Haven 

SUMMARIES OF ANNUAL SCHOOL EXPENSES 





4;M-t 








11 


a 53 


=1 


11 


Year 


si K u 


<u 


1-3 


O 0, 


PL, "3 to 


fa -a 


PL, O 

ujjO 

8^« 


^0 a 




H 


c/3 


fa 


5 


u 


u 


u 


u 












$22.73 


$16.52 


$1.49 


$5-7i* 


1891 .... 










22.99 


17.80 


•5i 


5.61 












23-63 


18.22 


.20 


5-Si 



By carrying the reduction to a per capita basis farther on 
among the various items of school expenditure, facts of ut- 
most interest to the taxpayer and citizen are disclosed. 
The following statements are good illustrations : 



Table 17. Springfield, Mass. 

COST PER PUPIL 
(Based on average number belonging) 



Ordinary Schools — Grades 



Teachers' 

Salaries 
(38 weeks) 



Text and 
Refer- 
ence 
Books 



Supplies 
and 

Equip- 
ment 



General 
Expenses 
and Mis- 
cellaneous 



Total 

Cost per 

Pupil 



Central High 

Grammar and Primary . . . 

Evening High 

Evening Grammar and Primaiy 

Evening Drawing 

Cooking 

Totals for day schools .... 
Totals for evening schools . 
Kindergartens 



522.48 

9-75 
25.48 



fi.03 
0.18 



$0.90 
0.10 
1.02 



51.82 
0.74 
0.60 



560.35 
23.21 
11.05 
11. 18 
5-Si 
0.40 
26.23 
10.77 
27.10 



* The errors in the addition of these items show the necessity of ex- 
pert revision for all such work. 



42 EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 

Table 18. Buffalo 

COST OF TUITION 



Cost per Pupil 



Registration 



Annual 



Average 
Term 



Annual 
Attendance 



Office salaries 

Teachers' salaries 

Janitors' salaries and supplies . . . 

Free text-books, including rebinding . 

Free material 

Apparatus, library, printing, and sta- 
tionery 

Superintendent's total expenditures 

Board of Public Works expenditures . 

Bond payments, amount retired and 
interest 

Total school expenditures, including 
bond payments 



9 0.27 

15.11 

i-39 

0-5I 

0.27 

°-39 
18.52 

8-55 

3-44 

30.51 



If 0.29 
16.67 

i-54 
0.56 
0.30 

0.42 

20.43 

9.44 

3-8o 
33.67 



G 0.36 

20.34 

1.88 

0.69 

o-37 

0.52 
24.92 
11.51 

4-63 
41.06 



The Chicago report devotes two or three pages to a show- 
ing of the per capita expenses of the various schools for two 
years, thus bringing changes into evidence. 

Table 19. Chicago 

STATEMENT OF PER CAPITA COST 

PER CAPITA COST FOR ALL DEPARTMENTS 



Tuition — 


1902-3 


1903-4 


Upon number enrolled 


$18.36 
22.20 
23-93 


$18.93 
22.41 
23.98 





(Based on total expenditures for salaries, $5,284,664.12 — not includ- 
ing evening and vacation schools.) 



TABLES AND FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS 43 
PUBLIC SCHOOLS 



General Expenses (a* Given in Detail Above) — 


1902-3 


1902-3 


Upon number enrolled 


$5-44 


$6.87 


(Based on total expenditures for all educational 






purposes, except salaries and evening and vaca- 






tion schools.) 






Per capita cost based on total expenditures for 






educational purposes, less evening and vaca- 






tion schools — 






Upon number enrolled 


$23.80 


$25.81 



PER CAPITA COST OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 



Based Upon Total Cost of Elementary Schools — 


1902-3 


1903-4 




$20.78 


$23.67 



PER CAPITA TOTAL COST OF MAINTAINING SPECIAL DEPARTMENTS AND 

SCHOOLS 



Normal School 

High Schools 

John Worthy School — Parental School 
R. T. Crane Manual Training School 

Parental 

Schools for the Deaf 

Schools for the Blind 

Kindergartens 

Manual Training Centers 

Household Arts — 

Upon membership enrolled . . . 

Cost of material 

Drawing — 

Upon average daily membership . . 
Music — 

Upon average daily membership . . 
Physical Culture — 

Upon average daily membership . . 
Evening Schools — 

Cost per pupil, per evening . . . 



$184.53 


$323-37 


53-79 


57-2i 


25.89 


3°-75 


77.00 


105.01 


211.38 


187.31 


99-58 


95-04 


179-53 


147.69 


8.60 


9.08 


i-55 


3-°9 


1.03 


i-55 




.66 


.09 


.067 


.042 


.047 


.047 


•073 


•154 


.144 



44 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 



Instead of using the unit of attendance as a basis for com- 
parison, we find occasionally that comparisons are instituted 
among various items of expenditure so as to show what 
per cent they form of the whole expenditure. The following 
table, taken from the Connecticut state report, is so arranged 
that one can easily detect over a series of years whether the 
relative amount of money expended, e.g. for salaries, is rising 
or falling. Under some circumstances this might be a useful 
bookkeeping device to detect extravagance in certain depart- 
ments. 

Table 20. Connecticut 



Report 

of 
Year 


Teachers' 

Wages 


Per 
Cent 


Fuel 
and 
Inci- 
dentals 


Per 
Cent 


New 
Build- 
ings 


Per 
Cent 


Repairs 


Per 
Cent 


Other 
Objects 


Per 
Cent 


1876 




68.O 




9.6 




8.7 




4-3 




8.6 


1877 




70.9 




8.7 




6.2 




4-5 




9.0 


1903 




58.6 




8.6 




i5-i 




4.4 




12.4 


1904 




6l.2 




9-7 




II.O 




4.2 




13.0 



Another device for expressing expenditures in terms of 
some unit is found in the Buffalo report. In this table the 
classified items of expenditure are expressed in terms of the 
unit of property valuation in the city. This assumes peculiar 
significance to the taxpayer in cities where the bulk of school 
revenue is derived by local taxation on property, and has 
at least the merit of showing exactly where this part of the 
taxpayer's contribution goes. 

Table 21. Buffalo 

Office salaries $0.06 

Teachers' salaries 3.63 

Janitors' salaries and supplies 0.33 

Free text -books, including rebinding 0.12 

Free material 0.07 

Apparatus, library, printing, and stationery 0.09 

Superintendent's total expenditures 4.45 



TABLES AM) FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS 45 

Board of Public Works expenditures 2.05 

Bond payments, amount retired and interest 0.83 

Total school expenditures, including bond payments .... 7.33 

The School Census 

The American school census has two main objects. In 
many states, it is used as a basis for the distribution of school 
funds to counties, cities, and school districts. In cities espe- 
cially it may be used to provide the data for the enforcement 
of compulsory attendance. 

Moreover, the census data may have a high scientific and 
sociological interest. Properly taken, the school census will 
show the extent to which children are sent to private and 
parochial rather than to public schools. In a few cities 
the census is utilized to show the children who are at work 
and the kind of occupations which they follow. 

Even though a census be taken primarily for purposes 
connected with the distribution of state funds, it obviously 
may be put to other uses. The first of these will be to inform 
citizens as to the relation between the number of children 
who might be in school and those who are actually attending. 
Such a statement is found in the Cambridge report in con- 
nection with the report of the truant officer. This table 
fulfills its purpose much more fully than similar tables found 
in the few other reports containing census totals, but it will 
be observed that even here much is left to the imagination. 
For example, we are unable to determine whether the number 
of children in public and in private schools includes total 
enrollment or some other number ; and consequently children 
who have attended only a few days may appear on this list. 

Table 22. Cambridge 

Number of children in the city between five and fifteen, boys, 

7,851; girls, 8,007 15,858 

Number in public schools between five and fifteen .... 12,327 

Number in private schools between five and fifteen .... 3,213 



46 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 



Number not attending school between five and seven . . . 145 

Number not attending school between seven and fourteen . . 35 

Number not attending school between fourteen and fifteen . 138 

Whole number not attending school between five and fifteen . 318 

Number in the city between five and six 1,718 

Number in the city between seven and fourteen, boys, 5,560; 

girls, 5,628 11,188 

In Philadelphia an attempt is made to indicate, among 
other facts of importance, the number of youths between 
thirteen and sixteen who are employed, and the character of 
the employment. 

Table 23. Philadelphia 

CENSUS RETURNS BY WARDS — 6 TO 16 YEARS 



Ward 


1Q03 


igo4 


Total No. 


Male 


Female 


Total No. 


Male 


Female 


1 . . . . 

2 . . . . 

3 • • • • 


7503 


3748 


3755 


7790 


3893 


3897 



CENSUS RETURNS OF 1904 BY WARDS — 6 TO 16 YEARS 





Ward 




White 




Colored 




Total 


Number 


Male 


Female 


Number 


Male 


Female 


I 

2 

3 




7790 


7706 


3846 


386o 


84 


47 


37 



CENSUS RETURNS OF 1904— TOTAL NUMBER OF 
CHILDREN 13 TO 16 YEARS BY WARDS 





Ward 


White 


Colored 




Total 


Number 


Male 


Female 


Number 


Male 


Female 


I 




1696 


1677 


809 


868 


19 


14 


5 


2 


















3 


. . . . 

















TABLES AND FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS 47 

CENSUS RETURNS OF 1904 — NUMBER OF CHILDREN 
13 TO 16 YEARS ENROLLED BY WARDS 





Ward 


U KITE 


Colored 




Total 


Number 


Male 


Female 


Number 


Male 


Female 


I 




IO71 


i°S5 


495 


560 


16 


II 


5 


2 


















3 



















CENSUS OF 1904. RECORD OF CHILDREN EMPLOYED 
13 TO 16 YEARS 



Ward 


Total 
No. 


Male 


Female 


Factory 


Store 


Office 


Domestic 


Misc. 


M. 


F. 


M. 


F. 


M. 


F. 


M. 


F. 


M. 


F. 


1 . . . . 

2 . . . . 

3 • • • ■ 


606 


306 


300 


I27 


99 


I IO 


62 


64 


II 


5 


127 




I 



A few other cities in addition to Philadelphia publish the 
census returns by wards or school districts. The advantage 
of this is that it may be possible to compare the attendance 
at school in a given district with the possible attendance in 
that district, with a view to getting at children out of school. 
Such a showing is made in the Cincinnati report where the 
children are grouped in four age divisions. 

Table 24. Cincinnati 
SCHOOL CENSUS OF UNMARRIED YOUTH IN THE SCHOOL 
DISTRICT OF THE CITY OF CINCINNATI, 1905 





Youth 


Youth 


Youth 


Youth 


Youth 




between 


between 


between 


between 


between 




6 and 21 


6 and 8 


8 and 14 


14 and 16 


16 and 21 




Years 


Years 


Years 


Years 


Years 


















<L> 




<D 




<u 









V 





"3 


s 


£ 


s 


£ 


c3 

E 


jj 


S 


V 


B 




a 


u 


a 


En 


% 


fS 


S 


fn 


a 


tn 
























3 






















Total . . . 























4 8 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 





Schools Attended by Youth 


Number 




Ward 


Public 
School 


Church 
School 


Private 
School 


No School 


of 
Youth 


^3 

a 
1 




2 


u 
"=3 
S 
u 


~3 
3 


"3 
1 




01 


"c3 


"3 

a 





-a 




"o 
O 


3 



3 








762 
324 
233 


701 

358 

213 






4,383 
3,l8 7 
2,434 


Total . . . 


24,155 


23,610 


131,538 



More compact and detailed is the table presented in the 
Springfield Report, where the number for each year is given. 
Possibly the only addition to this that might be suggested 
would be some method for showing, along with the census 
enumeration, the number in each ward actually attending 
school. 

Table 25. Springfield, Mass. 

POPULATION 

Population of the city, 1900 (United States Census), 62,059 

Population of the city, 1903 (estimated), 66,446 

SCHOOL CENSUS 

Number of children in Springfield between five and fifteen 
years of age, Sept. 1, 1903, n>490 

Distributed as follows: 





5 
yrs. 


6 

yrs. 


7 
yrs. 


8 
yrs. 


9 

yrs. 


10 
yrs. 


11 

yrs. 


12 
yrs. 


13 

yrs. 


14 
yrs. 


Totals 


Ward 1 

In public schools .... 
In parochial schools . . . 
In private schools .... 
Number not attending school 


267 

157 

883 

128 

4 

205 


224 
189 

1039 

144 
10 
57 


204 
192 

996 

168 

4 

11 


206 
201 

1004 

211 

4 

9 


226 
154 

943 
194 

7 
5 


218 
184 

965 

222 

3 

7 


220 
156 

942 

191 

12 

6 


165 
168 

944 

167 

8 

11 


185 
136 

865 

129 

21 

15 


175 
120 

677 

84 

7 

188 


2090 
1657 

9358 

1638 

80 

514 


Totals 






















11,490 














































10,899 



























TABLES AND FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS 49 

A defect of many school censuses is that, while they obtain 
from parents a statement of the fact as to whether children 
are or are not attending school, they utterly fail to obtain 
any data as to the actual amount of school attendance. In 
some of the previous tables, for example, the child who has 
attended a public or parochial school for a few days only is 
entered as having "attended school." The following showing 
made by the census table presented in the Milwaukee report is, 
in this respect, the most satisfactory that has been found. 

Table 26. Milwaukee 

ANNUAL ENUMERATION OF PERSONS OF SCHOOL AGE 
RESIDING IN THE CITY OF MILWAUKEE, JUNE 30, 
1905 





Ward 


Boys 


Girls 


Total 


■Joo 

•§.§s 

H U u 

Sc/3 O 
< 


J3 
<£ "> 

«oo 

'Ooc 

& ° n 

tJC/3 O 

< 


Children between 7 
and 14 who did not 
Attend 32 Weeks 
or more 


Third 


1120 

1297 
734 


1171 
1353 
697 


2291 
2650 
143 1 


953 
1254 
59° 


624 
326 
298 


6 
19 
18 























Number of Each Age 




4 


5 


6 


7 


8 


9 


10 


II 


12 


13 


14 


15 


16 


17 


18 


19 


First . 
Second 
Third . 

Totals 


i4S 
87 
150 


100 
147 
"3 


100 

152 

94 


127 
154 
98 


131 
165 
103 


152 
175 
81 


135 

IS6 

85 


175 

173 

91 


I48 

172 

96 


144 

169 

71 


154 
185 
8l 


149 
l8o 
8l 


147 
176- 

74 


158 

157 

74 


156 
205 

74 


170 
197 
65 





In some cities for a lack of school facilities it is necessary 
to allow children to attend but half of each school day. 
Usually it is arranged that only the lower classes shall thus 
be deprived of part of their school day, owing to the belief 
that small children suffer less from the partial deprivation. 



5° 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 



As a means of communicating to the public the unwelcome 
facts of part-time attendance we find various statistical 
devices. The New York tables give the gross number on 
part-time by boroughs and by districts for two years. 

Table 27. New York 



Borough 


Sept. 30, 
io°5 


Sept. 30, 
1906 


Increase 
over 

Sept. 30 
1905 


Decrease 
from 

Sept. 30 
1005 


a 

V 

+, 03 

a K 




"o $ 

<D ft 

u ° 

u 


Per Cent of 
Pupils on Part- 
time Based on 
Total Number 
on Register in 

Elementary 

Schools, Sept. 

30, 1906 


Manhattan . 
The Bronx . 
Brooklyn . 
Queens . . 
Richmond . 


32,633 

659 

38,358 
4,448 

387 


21,587 
I,IOI 

54,4l8 

9,148 

163 


442 

16,060 

4,700 


11,046 
224 


67 

42 

106 


34 
58 


8 
2 

26 
22 

1 



Table 28. New York 

TABLE SHOWING THE NUMBER OF PUPILS ON REGISTER 
IN PART-TIME CLASSES IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 
IN EACH OF THE SEVERAL SCHOOL DISTRICTS ON 
SEPTEMBER 30, 1905, AND SEPTEMBER 30, 1906, WITH 
THE INCREASE OR DECREASE 



District 


Part-time 

Pupils on 

Register 

Sept. 30, 1905 


Part-time 

Pupils on 

Register 

Sept. 30, 1906 


Increase 
over 1905 


Decrease 
from 1905 


Per Cent of 
Increase 


Per Cent of 
Decrease 


I 


1,918 

877 

1,289 


2,146 
883 
190 


228 

6 




11.88 
.68 




2 






3 • • 


1,099 


85.26 



Newark's report gives a very much fuller idea of the con- 
dition of all school accommodations, as well as the limitations 
which make half-day attendance necessary. 



TABLES AND FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS 51 
Table 29. Newark 

NEEDED SCHOOL ACCOMMODATIONS 







Class Rooms in 


Children Enrolled in 






u A 














a 




- 
















m 


a a 


School 


1 
"3 • 




2 
'3 

« rn 


O ho 

a 


8 


i 


'3 


O bi) 
c 


O 


Q 


fee 
1 

d 


-it 

— 1 a 

a in rt 

0P-1TS 




1 


r3 


.g.a 


d 


B 

s 


< 

■a 

d 


a) 


d 




d 


,5 




CJ 


a 


Ph 


P 


u 


« 


Ph 


U> 


H 


1* 


O 


H 


Normal and Training . . . 















































































The District of Columbia has the advantage of knowing 
what classes of children are affected by the part-time attend- 
ance. 

Table 30. District of Columbia 

SHOWING HALF-DAY SCHOOLS 



School 



Half-day 
Schools 



Grades of 

Half-day 

Schools 

i9°S 



Number 
above Sec- 
ond Grade 
io°5 



Force . . 
Hubbard . 
Morgan . 

Total 



One of the most complete exhibitions is found in the 
Chicago report, which presents the subject through a series 
of years, and also combines with the table of part-time certain 
financial considerations. 



52 EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 

Table 31. Chicago 





1 


"O 


1 


•i 


S.S to 




I 
< 


3, 

O 


a 




a 

.S 


J -9 


Yeas 



ceta 


ho £^ 
.5 «* 

SS 4J 

3 a 
pq g 

? 1 


•a 




of Pupils for 
Accommoda 
ivisions in B 
rd 




1 




p-l 


a & 


nber 

not 

ay D 

y Boa 




a\ 


«5 S» 





,_ 


S-H-O-a 




£ 
3 




s 

3 


a, 

a 

3 


O 


otal N 
there 
Whole 
owned 




H 


£ 


125 


n 


H 


1894-1895 . . . 


i59,9 J 3 


165,196 


12,087 


8,147 


20,234 


1903-1904 . . . 


217,584 


2 33,°35 


5,86 3 


5>93i 


11,794 







in 












Number in each 


E 




a 


§>. 


S 




Thousand of Total 




3 


< 


s£ 






Membership 


& 


"S a 


"o 


^* 


pi* 

w ho 








41 3 





8a 


J*S 
















U (UTd 


23 


c 2 





o~ 


U 1 








<"o.— 




5 S 


U 


fiW 


3 « 






•1- 


+1M 3T3 


&>( 


as 




M 1 




Year 




s 


s no 
n \\ 
in B 


3JB 


ri ho 

a'a 


a J, 

.2 <4 


bo <u 
3>< 

^ 3 




S 


(A 




3 
>> 

T3 


hom there 
modation i 
Divisions 
owned by 


& 5 

n 

< 


23 
s 


S 


.tJSH 

3*0 




3 


a 


com 
day 
ings 


"3 



3 
I 


3 



3.8 

O 


"3 




fa 


H 


< 


H 


H 


H 


1894-1895 . . . 


76 


51 


I27 


$71,294 


$44 


6,242 


9, 8 34 


1,836 


1903-1904 . . . 


27 


28 


55 


35,699 


16 


9,821 


4,800 


2,700 



School Attendance 

The first test of the size and popularity of a school system 
is the enrollment and the ratio of actual attendance to enroll- 
ment. Statistics of this kind were among the first to be 
presented in school reports. In addition to the stereotyped 
forms familiar to all teachers, various special forms have 
been devised to show facts of attendance more in detail; 



TABLES AND FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS 



53 



to show attendance as related to other facts of school admin- 
istration; and to show the conditions of attendance over a 
scries of years. Boston's table shows the ordinary form of 
stating attendance by schools, columns being arranged for a 
few additional important facts. 

Table 32. Boston 

PRIMARY SCHOOLS 

SEMI-ANNUAL RETURNS, JUNE 30, 1905 



Districts 


0) 
J3 
u 

H 


Average 
Number of 

Pupils 
Belonging 


Average 

Attendance 


i 

V 

ho a 

< 


O <D 

a 3 

Ug 

p* 


a) 

a >■ 

PQ * 


i 

>> 

00 

> 








Boys 


Girls 


Total 


Boys 


Girls 


Total 


£ 


Adams . 


IO 

9 
9 






532 
402 

377 






453 
359 
34i 


79 
43 
36 


85 
89 
90 


420 
322 
303 


117 

85 

73 


537 
407 

376 


Agassiz . 
Bennett . 





























St. Louis' table combines with a historical review of the 
growth of attendance other facts regarding increase in 
room needed. 

Table 33. St. Louis 

COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF ENROLLMENT IN THE 
DAY SCHOOLS 



Year 


Enrolled in 
chools Ex- 
of Double 
ration 


"o 

a a' 


eV 5? 

m a,. a 

_ fttu 

jf 


u 

S M 

3 a 


in Num- 
elonging 


■1 U P 

-up* 


•30 

°&8 




Number 
Day S 
elusive 
Regist 


a 


Per Ce 
crease 
with 
Year 


<t> O 

Spq 

> 

< 


a 


Per Ce 

crease 

with 

Year 


d a aJ 

"Soy 
5 a 


1870-71 . . . 
1871-72 . . . 
1872-73 . . . 






13-3 
9-7 
12. 






12-3 
IO.9 

4-5 


43 
43 
20 

























Newark's table shows three years' enrollment classified 
both by totals and by percentages for the different types of 



54 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 



schools or the various grades. This has the merit of showing 
at a glance where the larger numbers of children are found, 
and serves indirectly to disclose the decline of attendance 
and rate of decline as the higher grades are reached. 

Table 34. Newark 



ENROLLMENT BY GRADES COMPARED 

(Based on monthly reports) 



Grade 




1003 


1904 


1905 


Euro 


Per Cent 

n m or.t of Total 
llment Enn)U _ 

ment 


Enrollment 


Per Cent 
of Total 
Enroll- 
ment 


Enrollment 


Per Cent 
of Total 
Enroll- 
ment 


Normal . . 
High . . . 
Eighth . . 
Seventh . . 
Sixth . ^ . 
Fifth . . . 
Fourth . . 
Third . . . 
Second . . 
First . . . 
Kindergarten 
Ungraded 




4 

3-2 

3- 
.... 4-2 

.... 6.3 
.... 8.5 

11. 3 

.... 14-3 
.... 16.4 
.... 20.6 

11.4 

4 




•4 
3-3 
3-1 
4.4 
6.4 
8.9 
12. 

iS-i 
15-9 
19-3 
10.8 

•4 




■3 

3-7 

3-2 

4.4 

6.7 

9.1 

13.2 

14.8 

14.9 

18.9 

IO.6 

.2 


Total . 




.... 100. 




100. 




IOO. 



Very few reports combine their tables of enrollment or 
attendance with statistics of school population or with figures 
showing numbers of teachers and average of pupils per 
teacher. The following is a successful attempt to do this for 
Omaha over a series of years. 



TABLES AND FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS 55 

Table 35. Omaha 

COMPARATIVE STATEMENT FROM THE OFFICIAL 
REPORTS ON THE MAIN ITEMS OF ATTENDANCE 
FOR A PERIOD OF THIRTY YEARS 









'So 


£ 


HI 

d 












Pi 




T3 




01 £ u 




w 


d 






« 


<D 


.3 




Years 


c/j 


3 


p7S 


is* 

1-9 


< 




















u aW 








Oh 


L-i 


!5 


p 





be m 




x> 




J3 


no 


ao 


-D 


2'eU 




g 




E 


M 






•» " d 




3 


.a 


d 






3 


>fc 3 




£ 


CO 


£ 


< 


< 


fc 


<C 


1873-74 


1,659 


4,019 


2,426 


1,667 


1,542 


41 


38 


1874-75 


1,659 


4,138 


2,496 


1,614 


1,507 


42 


37 


1875-76 


i,755 


4,572 


2,592 


1,830 


1,677 


44 


40 



Another table from Wilmington' successfully combines 
statistical statements of many facts with those of attendance. 
Notice the table shows, as to each school, the accommodations, 
the highest enrollment, ordinary attendance, pupils per 
teacher, etc. 

Table 36. Wilmington 

SEATS, DAYS OF SCHOOL, ATTENDANCE, TARDINESS, 
AND CORPORAL PUNISHMENT IN EACH DAY SCHOOL 



White Schools 



High School 

High School, Grammar De- 
partment 

Grammar School, No. 1 . . 
Grammar School, No. 4 . . 



1 -t-n^ 



W& 

CI* 

PhX)>h 
OS V 

■ o.c 

o )* +* 









a m 

£ bo 



T3S 
d O. J- 

•5 SQhu 

< s «C S 

hp « bo « 






Since the average of yearly attendance is not a wholly 
satisfactory form of abridged statement owing partly to the 



56 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 



fact that an average does not always accurately reflect central 
tendency, and partly to the fact that, as used for school attend- 
ance, it quite fails to disclose the number of children who 
have made full or nearly full yearly attendance, we find several 
types of table designed to give a more accurate measure of 
attendance. The first and simplest of these presents attend- 
ance by months instead of for the year. 



Table 37. Pittsburg 



STATEMENT 



Showing the Enrollment and Attendance for the Several Schools, for 
Each Month, for the Year Ending August 31, 1903 



Districts 


September 


December 


March 


June 


Admitted 

During 

Year 




En- 
rolled 


Aver- 
age 


En- 
rolled 


Aver- 
age 


En- 
rolled 


Aver- 
age 


En- 
rolled 


Aver- 
age 


Male 


Fe- 
male 


Allen . . . 
Bedford . . 
Beltzhoover . 


1,174 
477 
647 


1,122 

457 
583 


1,143 
492 

615 


1,070 

463 
560 


1,165 

477 
617 


1,093 

449 
562 


1,135 

449 

633 


1,041 
423 
56l 


625 
297 
342 


642 
272 
38o 



The St. Louis method of classifying the pupils on the 
basis of the length of attendance or number of attendances 
made offers a useful substitute for average. 



Table 38. St. Louis 

SHOWING CHARACTER OF ATTENDANCE OF PUPILS IN 
EACH SCHOOL FOR THE YEAR 1903-1904 





Pupils Attending — Days 


, 






*o 




O w 


T3 






13 

"3 


J3 


C3 


id C 


-a 




•08 
22 -^ 


=3 


Names of 
























3 


Schools 










00 




•0 




- 











CO 














53 


•H 


c 

-3 


^ % 


3 









00 







-t 










00 





1 







1 


H 




£ 


<A 


h'° 


H 


Central High . 


314 


1151 


137 


88 


67 


185 


362 


91 


86 


72 


102 


2655 


463 


1 165 


9005 


54i 


401 


3056 


McKinley High 


1 S3 


354 


48 


18 


24 


23 


12 


IS 


6 


6 


4 


663 


159 


359 


911 


no 




003 


Adams . . . 


42 


58i 


249 


118 


95 


60 


84 


47 


61 


38 


49 


1424 


53 


1271 


260 


703 


00 


1484 



I MILES AND FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS 57 

Cleveland's modified form, permitting of comparisons by 
percentages, is also very useful. 

Table 39. Cleveland 
SHOWING TIME OF PUPILS' CONTINUANCE IN SCHOOL 







Boys and 


Girls 










u 


TJ 


0) 




01 














1 




H 


o-o 

-d 


gc 


o-a 


a! 
J3 


O-O 


Jl 


o-a 




o-a 




o-o 


'So 


Schools 




°'Si 


J3H 


is u 

o'bo 


£.£ 




5.H 


"8 '5 


|S 


o-ffl 






04 
s 




a 
W 
a) 




bo>-J 


Ud 


-ow 

d 


3(S 


a 

at 


Sal 

y.d 


O 






O 




H 


Ph 


w 


a. 


C/3 


Ph 


b 


Ph 


H 


Oh 


t-l 


Ph 


H 






26.6 




28.1 




8.1 




9.9 




13-4 




13-9 




Barkwill 




62.2 




20.1 




6.1 




2.2 




4.6 




4.8 




Bolton 




45-9 




30-2 




O.I 




4-3 




6.2 




4-3 





Similarly a distributed table of the amount of absence from 
school is presented in Cleveland's report. 



Table 40. Cleveland 

SHOWING THE DEGREE OF REGULARITY OF ATTEN- 
DANCE IN THE SEVERAL SCHOOLS 









6 


i 


d 




d 


W-* 


d 


d 

si 

- 1. 




<u 




-a 






'A 

V 


d 




H 3 

d L. 


'A 


ag 

■« S 


1-B 


1-a 


M 

dS 

a ,n 

so 

0} 


3? 


a) 

'3 

0) 


Schools 


"3 








|& 






o'So 


'O a. 
d " 

O aj 


o"3 


o'Si 


P4 

a 




< 


d« 
U 




3* 



O 


- <u 


3* 
U 


^0 
d^ 


d« 
U 


5=0 


a> 
U 


d« 








Ut 


J2 




j3.d 




&2 
<- 


<3 


JSH 


Jh 


J3 





15 




'A 


PL, 


< 


Ph 


<" 


Ph 


Ph 


< 


Ph 


< 


Ph 


H 






9-6 




68.1 




16.7 




4.8 




.8 








Barkwill 




I0.6 




81. 1 




5-1 




1.2 












Bolton 




8.4 




79-5 




10.9 




I.I 




.1 









In subsequent sections discussing part-time, survival, 
high school attendance, etc., attention will again be called 
to methods of measuring school attendance. 



58 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 



Age of Pupils 

Many reports give the age distribution of pupils. Such 
tables are suggestive in showing inferentially the ages of the 
pupils who are not in school, if it be assumed that there are 
practically the same number of children at each year of age 
in a given community. In no case has the number of children 
of each year of age in the schools been compared with the 
actual or theoretical number of that age who ought to be in 
school. The following table from the Chicago report shows 
one form, giving the ages of the children at enrollment : 

Table 41. Chicago 

AGE OF PUPILS AT ENROLLMENT 



Between 7 and 8 . 
Between 13 and 14 
Between 16 and 17 



32,423 

19,472 

3,680 



32,096 

20,146 

3,S°8 



32,318 

20,260 

3,3S 2 



31,5*7 
22,972 

3,449 



When presented over a series of years, this becomes valuable 
as showing whether there are tendencies for the age of enroll- 
ment to rise. If disclosed, such changes might furnish reason 
for further investigation. Generally speaking, however, it 
would seem that a table showing mere age distribution of 
pupils in school would be of relatively little service. 

But when the age of distribution is related to other facts, 
as that of graduation, 'of attendance on high school or other 
special school, of grade in the public school — then the facts 
of age assume a peculiar significance. For example, a table 
like these of Chicago and New York (by boroughs), showing 
ages of graduates from elementary and high schools, is 
helpful. 



TABLES AND FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS 



59 



Table 42. New York 

AGES OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL GRADUATES 



Borough 


Under 

E3 


"3 
to 14 


14 

to 15 


IS 
to 16 


to 17 


17 

to 18 


1(1 II) 


19 

to 20 


Total 

of all 


Manhattan . 
The Bronx . 
Brooklyn . 
Queens 
Richmond 




















Totals 


717 


4,475 


6,771 


4,499 


LS74 


306 


26 


3 


18,371 



These tables would be still more suggestive if the numbers 
were compared with numbers of pupils who have entered 
and who theoretically ought to have graduated ; and also 
with the age distribution of those still in the schools who have 
not yet graduated in, say, grades 5 to 8. Chicago and New 
York show corresponding tables for the age distribution of 
high school students or graduates. 

Table 43. New York 
STATEMENT SHOWING THE NUMBER OF PUPILS ON 
REGISTER IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS ON JUNE 30, 1905, 
CLASSIFIED SO AS TO SHOW THE AGES OF THE SEV- 
ERAL PUPILS IN EACH YEAR OF THE HIGH SCHOOL 
COURSE 

FIRST YEAR 



11 to 12 


12 to 13 


13 to 14 


14 to 15 


IS to 16 


16 to 17 


Boys 


Girls 


Boys 


Girls 


Boys 


Girls 


Boys 


Girls 


Boys 


Girls 


Boys 


Girls 


I 


I 


135 


82 


I,o66 


*&9 


1,830 


2,360 


I,38l 


2,064 


573 


661 



SECOND YEAR 



12 2 109 84 533 I,Io6 890 1,189 7 21 817 



FIRST YEAR 



17 to 18 


18 to 19 


19 to 20 


20 to 21 


Over 21 


Entire School 


Boys 


Girls 


Boys 


Girls 


Boys 


Girls 


Boys 


Girls 


Boys 


Girls 


Boys 


Girls 


Total 


141 


181 


33 


18 


5 




3 


I 


2 




5,170 


6,687 


11,857 



6o 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 



SECOND YEAR 



292 



373 


68 


97 


16 11 


5 


3 


5 



2 2,651 



6,335 



Much more suggestive are those tables that exhibit the 
relation of grade to age of all pupils in the system. Such 
a table is that presented for Boston. 

Table 44. Boston 

DISTRIBUTION OF PUPILS IN RESPECT BOTH TO AGE 
AND TO GRADES, JUNE 30, 1905 



Grades 




Un- 
der 

4 
Years 


4 
Years 


S 
Years 


6 
Years 


16 
Years 


17 
Years 


18 
Years 


19 

Years 
and 
over 


Totals 


m 


All Grades . . 
Totals . . 


( 
1 


Boys 
Girls 










99 

80 


99 

61 


53 
37 


23 
18 




fi* 












H O 












< a 












179 


160 


90 


41 


846 


en 
















Advanced Class 

Third-year Class 

Second-year Class 

First-year Class 
Totals . . 


\ 
\ 
{ 

J 
1 


Boys 
Girls 










5 
13 


33 

77 


48 
107 


62 

117 


148 


























en 


Boys 
Girls 










90 
139 


166 

267 


135 
180 


104 

66 


528 












681 


O 












W 



Boys 
Girls 










204 
327 


193 
239 


88 
73 


36 

27 




tn 










8SS 


W 












S 


Boys 
Girls 










284 
410 


120 
136 


38 
39 


6 
11 


987 


W 










1,368 


























1,472 


1,231 


708 


429 


5,520 
















Ninth Grade 

Eighth Grade . 

Seventh Grade . 

Sixth Grade 

Fifth Grade . . 

Fourth Grade . 

Ungraded . . 
Totals . . 


\ 

$ 
I 

i 

i 
\ 

\ 


Boys 
Girls 










257 
322 


7i 
88 


10 
8 
































Boys 
Girls 










91 
136 


10 
22 


7 
3 




2,535 
2,643 
























Bovs 
Girls 










27 
3° 


3 
13 


1 
4 




3,227 
3,188 


ti 










O 

8 










Boys 
Girls 










11 
13 


6 
2 






3,924 










1 




< 












Boys 
Girls 










3 
2 




1 






g 










3,9i7 


< 










m 


Boys 
Girls 










2 
2 
















































Bovs 
Girls 










5 
2 


2 

1 


















1 




1,178 


























9°3 


218 


38 





















TABLES AND FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS 6l 





Third Grade . . -j 

Second Grade . . - 

First Grade . . . j 
Totals . . . 


Boys 

Girls 

Bovs 








4 
7 










4.7l8 
4.491 


a 
































H 






4 
3 


5'2 
527 










5.348 
4,819 




Girls 

Bovs 
C'.irls 




























os 


17 
25 


1.374 
1,266 


3.317 
2,974 

7.341 










7,187 
6,507 


a 

M 

0* 






















42 


2,647 










33.070 
















'. w 


All Classes . . . j 
Totals . . . 


Bovs 
Girls 


133 
*33 


1.03S 
1,006 


1,422 

1.33S 

2,760 


182I 

237 










2,784 


W M 










f-> H 












£o 




266 


2,041 


4i9| 










5. 5io 










Totals by Ages .... 




266 2,083 5. 4°7 


7,76o| 2,554 


1,609 836 


470 


88,586 



It will be noted that the Boston Table is very concise and 
exhibits all the main facts (with totals) on one sheet. The 
following are graphic showings of the same facts, found in 
the St. Louis report : 

Table 45. St. Louis 

Attendance and Ages 

The various oblongs of diagrams A and B represent the number and the 
ages of children in each grade, in the Kindergarten, and in the High School. 
The number which each oblong represents may be seen from the figures of 
the scale printed below. Part C shows the ages of the pupils in each grade. 
It will be noticed that there are a few pupils of from 15 to 19 years of age 
in the lowest grades. These are children whose parents immigrated recently 
and who cannot speak English. A study of the chart reveals the fact that 
quite a number of pupils in the higher grades are below the normal age. 

ATTENDANCE OF PUPILS 



PUPILS BELONGING IN JUNE 1903 

BOYS GIRLS 



HIGH SCHOOL 

8GR. 
7GR. 
6 GR. 
5GR. 
4GR. 
3GR. 
2GR. 
1 GR. 

KINDERGARTEN 

5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 



AGES OF PUPILS ENROLLED IN 1902-1903 

BOYS GIRLS 



16 YEARS AND OVER 








15 YRS. 












14YRS. 












13 YRS. 










12 YRS. 








11 YRS. 








10 YRS. 




I 


9 YRS. 








8 YRS. 








7 YRS. 








6 YRS. 









5000 4000 3000 ! 



1000 1000 2000 3000 4000 6000 



62 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 



Table 46. St. Louis 



AGES OF PUPILS IN EACH GRADE! 

1ST GRADE 2ND GRADE 3 rd GRADE 4™ GRADE 



15-19YEARS 




5 




10 


| 30 


II 64 


14 




12 




18 


II 87 


|| 280 


13 




17 




64 


|| 238 


| | 786 


12 


I 


78 


|| 206 


I I 788 


I 1|752 


11 


II 


I I 541 


| |1585 


| 27$9 


10 


|| 376 


i j 1378 


| 29)45 


i 27$3 


9 


| | 858 


| 3J249 


31|D6 


I I 874 


8 


| | 3319 


43^4 


| | 1097 




65 


7 


I 810|7 




; 918 


I 


52 




1 


17-20 




6 


I 6 


18 


II 51 


16 




17 


II 36 


II 


107 


I I 253 


15 


l| 123 


| | 226 


| j 426 


| | 509 


14 


| | 509 


| j 811 


j j 890 


| | 682 


13 


I J 451 


| |1367 


i | 875 


I I 347 


12 


22EJ1 


| | 1185 


| | 409 


II 82 


11 


| 1|758 


I I 473 


II 81 


I 6 


10 


j 596 


II 87 


1 




9 


il 38 


12 







5TH GRADE 



6th GRADE 



7™ GRADE 



8TH GRADE 



A table found in the New York report shows the relative 
numbers of children who are not normally situated in the 
matter of age and grade. 

Table 47. New York 



Grades 



Number of 

Pupils 

June 30, 1906 



Number 

Above Normal 

Age 



Per Cent 
of Whole 
Number 



Correspond- 
ing Per Cent 
in 1905 



First year . 
Second year. 
Third year . 
Fourth year. 
Fifth year . 
Sixth year . 
Seventh year 
Eighth year . 
Ungraded . 
Special C 
Special D 
Special E 



13-9 
23-4 
31.6 

374 
40.3 
36.5 
29.1 
20.7 



667 
1,448 

4,59° 
12,974 



5i9>7SS 



16.6 
25.6 

34-1 
40.1 
42.9 
37-6 
28.0 
19.0 



(Foreign — cannot speak English) 
(Trying for work certificate) 
(Special coaching to enter Seventh 
Grade) 



150,500 



30.1 



TABLES AND FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS 63 

To show these facts with regard to individual schools 
would, for New York at least, undoubtedly require too much 
space for an annual report. In Milwaukee, however, the 
facts are published for the seventh and eighth grades in each 
school. This method would be helpful if it were desired to 
compare various parts of the city, foreign with native popula- 
tion, Italian with Jew, etc. 

Table 48. Milwaukee 

SHOWING THE DISTRIBUTION, ACCORDING TO AGE, 
OF THE SEVENTH GRADE PUPILS, JUNE, 1905. 
Concluded 





Number of Pupils of the Several Ages 


Schools 


a 


a 

> 


S3 

>< 

> 
& 

H 


ni 

a 

3 
H 


u 

a 

i 




d 

E 


j-i 

d 


c/5 


d 
« 

a> 

> 

C/3 


go 

S 


d 

0) 


Sixteenth District No. 2 . 
Seventeenth District 


I 


3 
2 
2 


26 

17 
16 


38 

17 
28 


27 
18 
22 


8 
7 
9 


I 






13 
13 

I3i 


Eighteenth District No. 1 . 


9 


I 





Other facts that might be related to age are : 
Average class standing and age within a given grade. 
Moral grading and age within a grade. Age and grade 
correlation of those dropping out of school. Percentages 
of promotion distributed according to age. 

Or the cases of "behind the normal age" might be cor- 
related (on basis of number of years behind) with scholar- 
ship, health, behavior, nationality, regularity of attendance, 
changes in residence, etc. 



Promotions 

Under normal conditions, a pupil who has attended school 
regularly ought, at the end of term or year, to be advanced to 



6 4 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 



a higher grade, and the proportion of children thus advanced 
is one of the measures of school efficiency and character 
of school population. Non-promotion of course may result 
from one or more of several causes, such as irregular attend- 
ance, removal from one school to another, ill adapted course 
of study, sickness, mental incapacity, etc. A single table of 
promotions can hardly be made to show reasons for non- 
promotion, but it can be made to disclose in what school 
and grades and classes the percentage of non-promotion is 
such as to call for the attention of superintendent or trustee. 
Any city would, without doubt, find it profitable to gather the 
facts that would tend to explain the causes of non-promotion, 
and it is to be regretted that the school reports of so few cities 
present statistical treatment of the subject. 

A few reports give absolute totals of promotion, sometimes 
distributed by grades or schools. The following table from 
Boston is an example : 

Table 49. Boston 

PRIMARY SCHOOLS 

NUMBER OF PUPILS PROMOTED TO GRAMMAR SCHOOLS FOR THE FIVE 
MONTHS ENDING JANUARY 3 1, 1905 



Districts 


>> 

n 


O 


"3 


Districts 


>. 

m 


3 


3 



Adams .... 
Agassiz .... 
Bennett .... 






115 

107 
no 


Jefferson . . . 
John A. Andrew 
Lawrence . . . 






113 
176 
I20 







Three long tables are given in the New Orleans report, 
the first showing the totals promoted, the second showing 
non-promotions in similar detail, and the third enrollment. 
A comparative study of these facts by schools is possible, 
though with greater effort, in the New York report, table 51. 



TABLES AND TACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS 65 
Table 50. New Orleans 

SESSION 1904-1905 — PROMOTIONS 

TO 



Eighth 



A B A B 

Boys Girls 



Seventh 



A B A B 

Boys Girls 



Sixth 



A B 
Boys 



A B 

Girls 



Fifth 



A B A B 
Boys Girls 



first district 
Paulding .... 
Jackson, Boys . . 
Jackson, Girls . . , 



Fourth 



A B A B 

Boys Girls 



Third 



A B 

Boys 



A B 

Girls 



Second 



A B A B 

Boys Girls 



First 



A B 

Boys 



A B 

Boys 



FIRST DISTRICT 

Paulding . . . . , 
Jackson, Boys . . 
Jackson, Girls . . 



SESSION 1904-1905 — NON-PROMOTIONS 

FROM 



FIRST DISTRICT 

Paulding .... 
Jackson, Boys . . . 
Jackson, Girls . . 



Eighth 



A B 

Boys 



A B 

Girls 



Seventh 



A B A B 
Boys Girls 



Sixth 



A B A B 

Boys Girls 



Fifth 



A B 

Boys 



A B 

Girls 





Fourth 


Third 


Second 


First 


Kinder- 




A B 

Boys 


A B 

Girls 


A B 

Boys 


A B 

Girls 


A B 
Boys 


A B 

Girls 


A B 

Boys 


A B 

Girls 






Boys 


Girls 


FIRST DISTRICT 

Paulding .... 
Jackson, Boys . . . 
Jackson, Girls . . . 











































66 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 



ENROLLMENT BY GRADES 

SESSION 1904-1905 





White Elementary 
Schools 


Eighth 


Seventh 


Sdcth 


Fifth 


Fourth 


Boys 


Girls 


Boys 


Girls 


Boys 


Girls 


Boys 


Girls 


Boys 


Girls 


FIRST DISTRICT 

Paulding .... 
Jackson, Boys . . . 
Jackson, Girls . . . 











































White Elementary 
Schools 


Third 


Second 


Fdjst 


Kinder- 
garten 


Total 


Boys 


Girls 


Boys 


Girls 


Boys 


Girls 


Boys 


Girls 




FIRST DISTRICT 

Paulding .... 
Jackson, Boys . . . 
Jackson, Girls . . . 





































Table 51. New York 

BOROUGH OF BROOKLYN 



Grade of Class 


Number of Pupils on 
Register January 31, 
1906, before Promo- 
tion 


Number of Pupils pro- 
moted during Term 
ending January 31, 
1906 




u 

a 
'3. 

i« O 

2,3 
a 

U 


Number of Pupils on 
Register June 29, 
1906, before Promo- 
tion 


2£ g 

% h & 

■ftbp N 

3 a 2 
^'§§ 

■811 

S B <u 



'3, 

Pn.2 

Hi 

0) 


T.A .... 






83 
83 
82 
82 
80 






84 
85 
83 
84 
8t 


T.B .... 










4A . . . . 










4B .... 










All Grades 























Comparison of the number of promotions with the number 
of children actually in the grade is made easy in the following 
Chicago tables : 



TABLES AND FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS 67 
Table 52. Chicago 



» 


a 


OS 


8j 


3 


° a 


og 


Schools 


1 
"3 

a 

w 


60 £ 

< 


|l 

>< 

< 



a 


H 

a. 


HT3 

•b a 
04 





Chicago Normal .... 


230 


191. 1 


184.6 


182 




95-2 




416 


382.3 


362.5 


277 


94.8 


72.5 


Manual Training and High . 


882 


824.9 


7974 


487 


96.7 


59-o 



Table 53. Chicago 

MEMBERSHIP AND PROMOTION 



Grade 


>.» 

P ™ 

60 ~ 

< 


HI 

Ph 


.2£s 


6 

t-l 

Ph 

°l 
fl 
<u a 
U« 

Ph 


Kindergarten 






3-57 


69.7 


First Grade 

Second Grade 

Third Grade 

Fourth Grade 










Total Grades 1-4 . . . 


143,449.1 


60.82 


117,293 


81.8 


Total Grades 5-8 ... 


73,621.9 


31.22 


61,294 


83.2 


Total Grades 1-8 . . . 


217,071 


92.04 


178,587 




Total High Schools . . . 


9,936.7 


4.21 


7,137 


71.8 



This is carried farther in Detroit's report, thus permitting 
comparisons to be made among different schools. 



68 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 



Table 54. Detroit 

STATEMENT OF PROMOTIONS 
(half yearly) for the school year ending june, 1905 





Grammar 


Primary 


Kinder- 
garten 


Whole 
School 


Schools 


. 


■3 3 



«'o 

u £ 



J- ~ 





. 8 

!§•■§ 

s 

2 ° 
■°^ 


S 
^ 

<u 

s 



J3 A 


Is 

go 


1 

O) O 

S 
-a 




2 

U S 



J-i t-< 


^ So 

i> e 



J3 a) 


. a 



&? 

2 ° 


■M.2 

So 

O E 




1^ 


Alger 




92 

9 1 






92 

87 

81 






67 
62 






9 1 
89 

79 




Amos 






Bagley 



















When promotions are expressed, as in the foregoing table, 
in per cents, comparison is easily possible. The Cincinnati 
table lacks that advantage, but has the excellent feature of 
making comparison possible among the different grades. 

Table 55. Cincinnati 

NUMBER OF PUPILS ADVANCED, NUMBER NOT 
ADVANCED AT CLOSE OF YEAR BY GRADES 





8th Grade 


5TH Grade 


3RD Grade 


ist Grade 


Schools 


■a 

CD 
CJ 

a 

> 
< 


-0 

a 
a 

> 

< 
1 


CD 
fl 
> 
< 

6 


T3 
CD 

CJ 

C 
< 
1 


CD 
U 

CJ 

> 
< 

1 


•a 

u 
H 

> 
■a 
< 




T3 
O 
u 

a 

< 

d 


•a 
<u 


(3 
cci 

•6 

< 




1st District .... 






103 

31 
I03 


6 

2 
40 


128 

55 
i33 


3° 
24 
29 


129 

67 

I46 


39 

63 

100 


5th District . . . 
6th District . . . 


9 













Baltimore has an elastic system of promotion and exhibits 
in its report the amount of time required by pupils to finish 
the work of each grade. 



TABLES AND FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS 69 

Table 56. Baltimore 
TIME OCCUPIED IN ACCOMPLISHING GRADE WORK 






<* 


w 


OJ 




OJ 





4) 







a 


II 




_ a 


a 


Sj3 




m J3 

=5 


5 3 


31 




.2 


M J3 


■21 






p. 














p*«3 


fL,S 


£g 


J2 


3 M 
P4 fl 


3° 

fL,S 


3 „ 

Oj 3 








o-S 




65 




05 




Z 


Z 


z 


h 


fc" 


fc 


»" 


Group A . . 


65 


246 


189 


1,415 


84 


718 


613 


Group B . . 


5 


J 3 


447 


1,522 


I 9 I 


854 


477 


Group C . . 


66 


205 


352 


i;974 


149 


1,202 


623 



Survival 

Closely related to graduation and promotion is the matter 
of persistency of attendance, or, as sometimes called, survival. 
The most primitive measure of the efficiency of a school is 
numerical attendance; the second is advancement, or pro- 
motion; and the third test may be found in the persistence 
of attendance, or the extent to which pupils attend through 
the various grades. The converse of persistency of attend- 
ance, of course, is withdrawal, or "dropping out," "grade 
mortality." The extent to which children fail to advance 
to upper grades, or the extent to which they drop out in early 
years, is a matter requiring the constant attention of super- 
vising officers. 

The following table for St. Louis is designed to show 
persistency of attendance within the year. The figures, 
which are here omitted, would appear to indicate that the 
larger part of withdrawal takes the form of failure to return 
after the vacation period: 



7° 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 



Table 57. St. Louis 

CLASSIFICATION OF PUPILS BY ADVANCEMENT 
IN STUDIES 

NUMBER BELONGING AT THE CLOSE OE EACH QUARTER 





1904-1905 


I 903- 1904 


Schools 


t-i 
1 

in 


u 

V 

1 

a 

a 


<L> 

w 


u 
0) 

1 


U 

I 

a 
1 


u 
H 

a 

H 


U 

u 

3 

a 

a 


u 

V 

w 


S 

o» 

T3 

3 
H 


f-f 

a) 

1 

■ C 

i 



HIGH SCHOOL 

Third Class 

Junior Class 

Total 

Increase compared with last year 
















— 


DISTRICT SCHOOLS 

Number Pupils 8th year or grade 
Number Pupils 7th year or grade 
Number Pupils 6th year or grade 
Number Pupils 5th year or grade 
Total Higher Grades . . . 
Increase Higher Grades compared 
















— 


Number Pupils 4th year or grade 
Number Pupils 3d year or grade 
Number Pupils 2d year or grade 
Number Pupils 1st year or grade 
Number Pupils Kindergarten 

Total lower grades .... 

Decrease or increase of lower 

grades compared with last year 
















— 


Total Number belonging at end 
of quarter 


















Total increase or decrease com- 
pared with last year .... 















TABLES AND FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS 71 

Philadelphia's table makes possible a comparison of enroll- 
ment in each school at different periods with average number 
belonging, thus giving the movements in school population. 

Table 58. Philadelphia 

COMMERCIAL HIGH SCHOOL FOR GIRLS 





Girls 


Belonging at 

Beginning 

of Year 


Belonging at 
End of 

Year 


Average 

Number belonging 

during Year 


I220 


I350 


I220 


1255 



TABLE SHOWING THE NUMBER OF PUPILS BELONGING, AND THE AVERAGE 
NUMBER BELONGING IN ALL GRADES OF SCHOOLS IN THIS DISTRICT 
DURING THE YEAR 1904 



Central High School .... 
High School for Girls .... 
Commercial High School for Girls 
Central Manual Training School 

Special Schools 

First Section 

Second Section 



Number of 

Pupils 
at End of 

Year 
by Sexes 



S3 g'o ° 

6»u.S 



u- CO 

t,'Eii g 
5 



Average 

Number 

belonging 



The extent to which pupils drop out, or are otherwise 
lost to the public school, is shown by the following Spring- 
field, Boston, and St. Louis table and charts. Such graphic 
presentation of the fact that America's education is "uni- 
versal" only up to the third grade, even in learned Boston, 
would in time exercise a marked influence on both curriculum 
and administration. 



72 EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 

Table 59. Springfield, Mass. 

NUMBER OF PUPILS IN EACH GRADE 





I 


II 


III 


IV 


V 


VI 


VII 


September, 1895 . . 


1639 


i°53 


1035 


794 


724 


513 


446 


September, i8g6 






1723 


1020 


1 180 


817 


78s 


621 


460 


September, 1897 






1781 


"34 


1211 


980 


789 


754 


474 


September, 1898 






1775 


1145 


1287 


966 


875 


667 


635 


September, 1899 






1789 


1174 


1243 


1029 


952 


786 


559 


September, 1900 






1717 


1068 


1294 


1107 


904 


884 


621 


September, 1901 






1717 


1265 


1226 


1152 


1024 


892 


759 


September, 1902 






1685 


1297 


1276 


1088 


"35 


90S 


768 


September, 1903 






177S 


1319 


1180 


1341 


1072 


986 


799 





VIII 


IX 


Fresh- 
men 


Sopho- 
more 


Junior 


Senior 


Post 
Grad. 


September, 1895 . . 


277 


263 


177 


126 


96 


65 




September, 1896 






288 


258 


£04 


118 


86 


104 




September, 1897 






381 


27.4 


206 


169 


93 


88 


15 


September, 1898 






382 


299 


227 


159 


123 


80 


22 


September, 1899 






486 


380 


243 


*74 


130 


114 


13 


September, 1900 






463 


380 


293 


206 


*42 


83 


28 


September, 1901 






548 


378 


298 


212 


168 


104 


26 


September, 1902 






653 


416 


274 


191 


158 


i°5 


26 


September, 1903 






633 


4^4 


39° 


260 


172 


iS2 


18 



By following the italicized figures from left to right in this 
table the grade mortality can be seen at a glance. 



TABLES AND FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS 73 
Table 60. Boston 




74 EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 

Table 6i. St. Louis 



100 



70 








'STOO- 


LS 














































70 














































>52 


















V 3 


V s " 




















V 


V 




\35 
























^28 


5. 22 
























10 






E 


















fe=sj; 


c 



10 



3.2 10.4 11.4 12.3 13.1 14.0 14.8 15.7 16.8 17.5 18.6 YEAR 
DIAGRAM SHOWING THE EXTENT TO WHICH PUPILS 
CONTINUE THROUGH THE. BJGHEB GRADES , 

In many communities it has become a matter of interest 
to know how many graduates of the elementary school enter 
the high school. These facts are exhibited by Detroit and 
New York as follows : 



TABLES AND FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS 
Table 62. Detroit 



75 



TABLE COMPARING EIGHTH GRADE GRADUATES WITH 
NUMBER OF PUPILS ENTERING HIGH SCHOOL 

No. pupils graduated from A 8th to high schools for year 

ending June, 1904 1,335 • • • 

No. pupils who entered high schools from grammar 

schools, 1904 ... 926 

No. pupils graduated from A 8th to high schools for year 

ending June, 1905 1,546 . . . 

No. pupils who entered high schools from grammar 

schools, 1905 ... 1,150 



Table 63. New York 





Graduates from Ele- 
mentary Schools 
January and June 


Number Pupils admitted to 

High Schools January, 

February, June, and 

September, 1905 


Elemen- 
ols Grad- 
ering the 
ools 


Boroughs 


From 
Public 
Schools 


From 
Other 
Schools 


Total 


Per Cent 
tary Schc 
uates en 
High Scb 


Manhattan . . . 
The Bronx . . . 
Brooklyn .... 

Queens 

Richmond .... 


8,725 
1,730 

6,57° 

1,024 
322 






5,394 

i,499 

5,873 

925 

339 


53 

6l 

75 
83 
99 





Graduates from Ele- 
mentary Schools 
January and June 
1906 


Number Pupils admitted to 

High Schools January, 

February, June, and 

September, 1906 


: Elemen- 
doI Grad- 
tering the 
ools 


Boroughs 


From 
Public 
Schools 


From 

other 

Schools 


Total 


Per Cent 
tary Sch 
uates en 
High Sch 


Manhattan . . . 
The Bronx . . . 
Brooklyn .... 

Queens 

Richmond . . . 


8,791 
1,846 

7,158 

1,226 

332 






4,902 
991 

5,951 
1,077 

358 


46 
52 
72 
80 

94 



7 6 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 



Two tables from the District of Columbia show persist- 
ency of attendance in two types of high school : 



Table 64. District of Columbia 

SHOWING PER CENT OF SURVIVAL FOR ALL WHITE 
ACADEMIC HIGH SCHOOLS FROM FIRST YEAR TO 
GRADUATION, CENTRAL TO 1893, INCLUSIVE; ALL 
TOGETHER THEREAFTER 





Per Cent of the Immediate Pre- 
ceding Class reaching 
Class Designated 


Per Cent of Original First-year 

Class reaching Class 

Designated 


Year 


Second 
Year 


Third 
Year 


Fourth 
Year 


Graduates 


Col- 
lege 


Second 
Year 


Third 
Year 


Fourth 
Year 


Graduates 


Col- 
lege 




Third 

Year 


Fourth 
Year 


Third 
Year 


Fourth 
Year 


1S92 . . 
1893 • • 


50.28 


78.77 


15-25 


73-°3 


76.74 




50.28 


39.61 


6.04 


28.93 


4-63 





Table 65. District of Columbia 

SHOWING ENROLLMENT AND PER CENT OF SURVIVAL 
FOR THE BUSINESS HIGH SCHOOL FROM FIRST YEAR 
TO GRADUATION 



Graduating Year 



1892 

1893 
1894 



Class Enrollment 



First 

Year 



308 
28l 

3°3 



Second Gradu- 
Year ates 



85 
I32 



35 
5° 
60 



Per Cent of the 

Immediately 

Preceding Class 

reaching Class 

Designated 



Second Gradu- 
Year ates 



27 

3° 
44 



42 
59 
45 



Per Cent of 
Original First- 
year Class 
reaching Class 
Designated 



Second Gradu- 
Year ates 



27 
30 

44 



11 

18 
20 



TABLES AND FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS 77 

Detroit compares by schools, enrollment and graduation 
over a series of years, and shows for one grade of the high 
school just why pupils drop out. 



Table 66. Detroit 

TABLE SHOWING BY GRADES AND CLASSES THE WHOLE 
NUMBER ENROLLED IN THE CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL, 
AND THE NUMBER GRADUATED FOR EACH SEMES- 
TER OF THE PAST TWENTY-THREE YEARS 





















_ 


For Semester ending 
as Below: 


m 


< 






< 



oa 


< 


PQ 


< 


p, 

C/3 


June, 1882 . 




















January, 1883 . . 


129 


117 


86 


62 


51 


45 


59 


25 


37 


June, 1883 . . . 


J 53 


97 


70 


61 


44 


45 


37 


54 


100 


January, 1884 . . 


J 3i 


104 


86 


54 


43 


35 


48 


3° 


68 



For Semester ending 
as Below: 




3 

O 
O 


Total 




d 

<D 

ax 

w 


H 


u 

bo 

eg 
g 

p- a 
1 


0. 

a 

a 

bo 

0) 

> 

< 


«! 

sa 

<u 
« Sf 

§<.& 

S'S'S 

Ph 


=1 




OJ 

"3 8 

So 

"3 



co 

d 
ta 
-a 
d 

< 


d 

> 
< 


June, 1882 . 














82 

23 
40 
29 






January, 1883 . . 
June, 1883 . . . 
January, 1884 . . 


9 
12 

15 


620 

673 
614 














702 




558 




63 


545 















78 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 



Table 67. Detroit 

DETROIT CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL 

TOTAL NUMBER OF "FIRST YEAR" PUPILS WHO HAVE LEFT SINCE 
SEPTEMBER, 1904 





Ages 








12 


13 


14 


is 






>> 


pq 


O 


3 



>> 

m 









pq 


3 


3 






pq 


1- 

O 


3 


H 



pq 


3 


"3 


H 


Illness 

Illness in Family . . . 
Failing Eyesight .... 

Work . 

Transferred 

Left City 

Indifference to Work . . 
Music 


I 
O 
O 
O 
O 
O 
O 
O 
O 


O 

O 
O 
O 
O 
O 
O 
O 
O 


I 
O 
O 
O 
O 
O 
O 
O 
O 








2 




1 










I 
O 
O 
O 
O 
O 
2 
O 
O 


I 
O 

I 

5 







1 



1 
1 
1 


1 


2 
O 

I 

6 

1 
1 



1 


I 
O 
O 
IO 
2 
O 
2 
O 
4 


4 

1 
1 
2 

1 

3 


1 
6 


5 
1 
1 

12 
3 
3 
2 
1 

10 


5 


1 
34 
4 
3 
8 

10 

65 


18 

4 

1 

7 

2 

7 

1 

1 

13 

54 


23 
4 
2 

4i 

6 

10 

9 

1 

23 


Total 








119 



New York gives for two years the total number discharged 
without graduation from each high school, and the percentage 
of discharged to total enrollment. 

Table 68. New York 

SHOWING FOR EACH HIGH SCHOOL THE NUMBER DIS- 
CHARGED EACH YEAR WITHOUT GRADUATION 





Year ending June 30, 1905 


Year ending June 30, 1906 


School 


Total 
Enrollment 


Number 

Dis- 
charged 


Per Cent 


Total 
Enrollment 


Number 

Dis- 
charged 


Per Cent 


De Witt Clinton . 
Wadleigh . . . 
Girls' Technical . 


2,961 

3,577 
3,9 8 4 


837 

886 
1,637 


28 

25 
41 


2,553 
3,574 
3,524 


481 

713 
1,460 


19 
20 

41 


Entire City . 


28,674 


9,382 


33 


3i,949 


9,871 


31 



TABLES AND FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS 



79 



Compulsory Attendance 

The more progressive cities educationally have been for 
many years endeavoring to enforce the laws regarding com- 
pulsory education. For this purpose attendance depart- 
ments have been developed which have in charge the matter 
of bringing truant children or children illegally kept away 
from school either to their own school or to some institution 
serving the purpose of a parental school. Many of the 
published reports give one or more pages for the purpose of 
detailing the work of the attendance department, but the 
statistics consist in the main in a bill of particulars which 
provide but little opportunity for statistical interpretation. 
Sometimes the number of cases is simply given by districts, 
as in the Milwaukee Report : 



Table 69. Milwaukee 

SHOWING THE NUMBER OF CASES OF TRUANCY AND 
HALF DAYS LOST DURING THE YEAR 1904-1905 



Schools 



East Division High . 
South Division High 
West Division High . 



o § 

r° 



K« 



■go 



24 

15 
2 



^<4 



Cl, 



.OI2 
.OO8 
.OOI 



The work of the entire city department is summarized in 
the New York Report, to which summary is appended some 
tables showing disposition made of incorrigible children. 



8o 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 



Table 70. New York 

The following statistics show the work of the attendance 
department for the school years 1 903-1 904 and 1 904-1 905, 
the year ending July 31 : 



Number of attendance officers 

Number of truant schools 

Number of persons in parental relation to chil- 
dren arrested for violation of Section 4 of 
the Compulsory Education Law: 

(a) Arrested 

(b) Fined 

(c) Imprisoned 

Number of persons, firms, or corporations who 

have paid the penalty for employing chil- 
dren between 8 and 14 years of age, con- 
trary to the provisions of Section 5 of the 
Compulsory Education Law: 

Corporations 

Number of cases investigated by attendance 
officers 

Number of cases reinvestigated by attendance 
officers 

Number of cases of truancy investigated by 
attendance officers 

Number of different individuals found to be 
truants by attendance officers 

Number of children found to be non-attendants 
and placed in school 

Number of children found to be truants and 
committed to institutions 

Number of children found to be truants and 
committed to truant schools 

Number of children found employed contrary 
to law and returned to school ..... 



The cases dealt with by District Superintendents in the 
year ending July 31, 1905, are classified as follows : 



TABLES AND FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS 8 1 

Number of individual pupils who have been truants five days or 
more during the school year registered in the offices of the 
district superintendents 11,607 

Number of such pupils dealt with by attendance officers . . . 10,253 

Number of children brought before district superintendents for 
hearing on the charge of truancy 3,7&9 

Number of such children recommended for commitment to 

truant schools 549 

Number of children brought before district superintendents for 

hearing on the charge of incorrigibility 358 

Number of such children suspended and recommended for com- 
mitment to truant schools . . . 133 

Number of such delinquent children transferred from one school 

to another on probation 467 

Number of children paroled from truant schools and institutions 427 

Number of such children who violated parole and were returned 118 

In only one or two cases has it been found that the statis- 
tics of non-attendance have been placed side by side with 
those of attendance in such a way that comparison can be 
made. The Springfield report presents one of these examples : 



Table 71. Springfield, Mass. 

SUMMARY OF STATISTICS 

FOR THE SCHOOL YEAR ENDING JULY I, 1904 





% 




SO 


, 


JS 


2 


TJ 


a 






Schools 






CO 

"3 


1-1 
it 
A 
u 
cd 

H 

"o 

u 


3T) 
0h2J 

t-i 


a a 

3 'bo 

2, 



3, 

3 

m 

|£ 


a. 

3 
P* u 

•° y 
3 c3 

3 o> 


a 
< 
a 8 


3 
< 


>> 


a 

3 

>• 


C 

a 

Oh 








a 


.0 

a 


bo 


bO 


rt 


bo 

C3 


O 


Q 






3 


3 


3 










u 


a! 


* 




5 


£ 


£ 


< 


< 


< 


< 


Ph 


w 


O 


Central High . . 






















Technical High 






















Alden Street . . 






















Armory Street . . 

























82 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 



The Buffalo report gives in considerable detail the reasons 
which were found to prevail in case of non-attendance and 
truancy. 

Table 72. Buffalo 

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE ATTENDANCE OFFICERS 





E.C. 


N.E. 


N.W. 


S.E. 


s.w. 


Total 


Total number of cases reported by principal . 
Total number of cases reported by citizens 
Total number of cases reported by policemen 












7.427 
187 
265 
794 














54i 


















i>997 


1,876 


1,936 


i.5S° 


1.855 


9,214 


Children kept at home by parents (temporary 












1.598 


Children kept at home by parents (neglect) 












1,881 














794 


Children mentally or physically disqualified . 












20 
98 


Children withdrawn from school and sent to 














Children whose residence could not be found . 
Children found to be truants and returned to 












690 


Children arrested and taken before Police Jus- 














Children found to be truants and committed to 












138 

















The detailed report may take the form of enumeration of 
work each month with some statement of kind of action 
taken, as shown in the Grand Rapids report : 



TABLES AND FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS 83 
Table 73. Grand Rapids 
SUMMARY OF WORK OF TRUANT OFFICER, 1904-1905 



Character of Notices Served 


a 

CO 




6 


3 

s 




1 

a 

u 




& 

3 

d 

a) 
1— > 


1 
is 

u 

U-, 




< 


>. 


I 


1 
e2 


Number of persons warned 
for truancy .... 

Number of persons warned 
for incorrigibility . . 






















302 

77 
46 

2752 

3 

104 

60 


Number of persons warned 
under compulsory law . 






















Number of special cases 

Number of visits to stores 

Number of persons taken 
from street to school 






















Number of persons ar- 
rested on warrants . . 














































Totals 

Number of visits made to 


234 
12 


351 
44 


294 

39 


311 

43 


322 

43 


284 
33 


343 
44 


434 
40 


477 
66 


294 
32 


3344 
39 6 



High Schools 

Devices for statistical exhibit for high schools resemble 
in many respects those for elementary schools in such matters 
as attendance, regularity of attendance, ages, etc. In a few 
respects popular interest attaches to phases of work that are 
peculiar to high schools. In some of the older reports it 
was customary to prove statistically that a very considerable 
proportion of the pupils in high schools were children of 
wage earners; but there is hardly any longer occasion to 
defend the American high school against the charge of being 
for the rich only. 



8 4 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 



Very few of the published reports show the relation between 
age and grade of those in high school. The Springfield 
report is one of the exceptions : 

Table 74. Springfield, Mass. 

CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL 

DISTRIBUTION OF PUPILS BY AGES AND CLASSES, SEPTEMBER, 1903 



Class 




Age 


Total 


Total 


12 


13 


14 


IS 


16 


17 


18 


19 


20 


21 


23 


33 


Class 


Post-Graduate . j 


Boys 
Girls 
Boys 
Girls 
Boys 
Girls 
Boys 
Girls 
Boys 
Girls 












1 


1 
3 
18 
21 
16 
27 

9 
19 

3 
8 


1 

5 

11 

21 

7 
12 

3 
13 


1 
S 
4 
7 
2 
2 
2 








4 
14 
48 
66 
62 
92 
82 
150 

125 

232 


I a 














1 




f ld 


Senior j 








1 

1 

2 

3 

16 

23 

48 

86 


5 

3 

10 

18 

27 
46 

28 

7i 


9 
12 

24 
29 
21 
43 
12 
26 


[ 114 








1 
1 






T • ( 








[ 154 


Junior ...... 


2 


1 
1 

7 
11 


1 

2 

5 

27 
27 


Sophomore . . \ 






1 


232 


T? U S 












Freshman . . . -j 




1 








357 












Totals . . . 


2 


20 


62 


180 


208 


177 


125 


73 


24 


2 


1 


1 




875 



Since the high school offers considerable option of work, 
and is thus supposed to meet the varying needs of different 
classes of people, a statistical showing of the subjects or 
courses chosen, and any progressive movements in this 
regard, are of value. The following tables from high schools 
with extensive curriculum are examples : 



Table 75. New Haven 

NUMBER OF PUPILS IN THE NEW HAVEN HIGH SCHOOL 
PURSUING VARIOUS STUDIES 



English 1,554 

History 

American 141 

English 221 

Greek and Roman . . 696 

Medieval and Modern . 89 

Mathematics 

Algebra 808 



Geometry 558 

Trigonometry .... 60 

Mechanics 16 

Language 

Greek 63 

German 731 

French 168 

Latin 867 



TABLES AND FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS 85 



Stenography 91 

Typewriting 94 

Physical Geography . . 205 

Commercial Geography . 260 

Bookkeeping 105 

Business Practice .... 92 

Chemistry 206 

Physics 213 

Electricity 17 

Biology 155 

Drawing 

Mechanical 337 



Free Hand . 








543 


Woodworking . 








158 


Metal work 








179 


Forging . . . 








70 


Pattern Making 








49 


Sewing, Plain . 








65 


Art Needlework 








76 


Dressmaking . 








54 


Domestic Science 








197 


Venetian Iron . 








2 


Wood Carving 








146 


Clay Modeling 








45 



Table 76. New York 

NUMBER OF PAPERS MARKED BY EACH COMMITTEE 
AND THE AVERAGE PER CENT IN EACH SUBJECT 
FOR THE SCHOOLS THROUGHOUT THE CITY 





January, 1905 


June, 1905 


Subject 


Number 

of 
Papers 


Average Per 

Cent attained 

in Subject 


Number 

of 
Papers 


Average Per 

Cent attained 

in Subject 


English . . . 
Algebra . . . 
Geometry . . 


547 
1,357 
1,448 


64.I 
56.O 
50-7 


1,079 

1,519 

1,442 


72.8 
67.6 

45-8 



The following table shows very clearly the trend in di- 
rection of the more vocational education in Springfield : 



Table 77. Springfield, Mass. 

DISTRIBUTION BY COURSES OF THE THREE UPPER 
CLASSES 







College 
Preparatory 


General 


Commercial 


Totals 




Boys 


Girls 


Total 


Boys 


Girls 


Total 


Boys 


Girls 


Total 


Boys 


Girls 


Total 


1898- 


-1899 . 


6l 


76 


137 


72 


Il6 


188 


12 


25 


37 


145 


217 


362 


1901- 


-1902 . 


75 


6l 


136 


52 


166 


2l8 


39 


45 


84 


166 


272 


438 


1904- 


-1905 . 


72 


I29 


20I 


78 


156 


234 


48 


I06 


154 


198 


39 1 


589 



86 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 
PERCENTAGES 





Boys 


Girls 


Total 


Boys 


Girls 


Total 


Boys 


Girls 


Total 


Boys 


Girls 


Total 


1898-1899 . 


42 


35 


38 


50 


53 


52 


8 


12 


IO 


40 


60 


IOO 


1901-1902 . 


45 


22 


3 1 


31 


61 


50 


24 


17 


19 


38 


62 


IOO 


1904-1905 . 


37 


33 


34 


39 


40 


40 


24 


27 


26 


34 


66 


IOO 



The rapid decline in attendance at high schools is some- 
thing that is often discussed in general terms, but is shown 
specifically in very few school reports. The Boston table 
shown on p. 60 is an attempt to do this, as also some of the 
tables shown in the section on survival, p. 69 and following. 
The persistency of attendance during the year is shown in 
the following table from the Wilmington report : 

Table 78. Wilmington 

BOYS' DEPARTMENT HIGH SCHOOL 









01 


to 



















■3. 








■5 g'S^ 












3 


3 




O 


^fc - 


C 3 & X 




For Month Ending 


M 

XI 

u 
d 

0) 

H 

n 


C/3 

"o 

>> 

ni 
Q 

ts 

u 

xi 
H 


is 


fc.9 
1-2 

ZpQ 

OJ 
60 
eS 


u 

a 

ai 

a 

a 
to 

M 


U 

a 

•a 
a 

"S 
u 


mber admitted to 
chool who have not 
drolled in any other 
c School of the Cit 
resent School Year 


mber admitted to 
chool who have bee 
ailed in other P 
chools of the City 
: the present School 


'I 

■a 

c3 

u 

X 

a 




3 


3 










9IA US B> 


3C« Ct/3 O 


3 




£ 


5 


H 


<; 


< 


p-i 


£ 


i3 


fc 


September 30 . . 












98.3 








October 31 . . . 












97-7 








November 30 . . 












97.1 











u 
a> 

x 



T3 


a 






_G"53 

P$ 


60,3 


a 


13 


Is 

g.3 






6 

c. 


"SS 


For Month Ending 


11 


«i 

Xi 


a. 
3 


13 

a. 





£5 


bO 


■ft 

ft 

< 




s 

3 


"8? 


Vp3 

£.2 


cS 

U 


d.12 
"SPw 






u 


« 


•g 


So 


fc °.2 


u 


K 


fcW 


<u 


8 


S3 13 










^2 


s« S 


J=^3.S 


-a 




,C 0) 


jj 








8 


P 


F 


fl 


S c SS 


g 


O 


fi+i 


fli? 


ti 


fa 












sW-o 


sW S 


3 




3 


3 n 


3 


3 




£ 


£ 


£ 


fc 


fc 


E 


2 


£ 


2; 


fc 


14 


K 


September 30 . . 


























October 31 . . . 


























November 30 . . 



























TABLES AND FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS 87 

The Washington report also presents a table which makes 
it possible to estimate persistency of attendance: 

Table 79. Washington, D.C. 

SHOWING ENROLLMENT OF EACH WHITE HIGH SCHOOL 
FOR EACH SCHOOL YEAR BY YEARS, AS WELL AS 
NUMBER OF GRADUATES EACH YEAR, ETC. 





1898-1899 


1 899- 1 000 


1900-1901 


Year 


"3 

a 

a 

V 

U 


a 

u 

V 


a 

u 

3 
CIS 

w 


J 

pq 


~3 

H 


a 
u 


d 
u 

4°3 


a 

A 
W 

496 


-J 

3 

pq 
640 


"c3 

H 


a 
U 

985 


a 
377 


a 
w 

458 


a 

3 
pq 

745 
108 


O 
H 


First year .... 
Second year . . . 
Third year .... 
Fourth year . . . 




400 

34 
8 


533 

60 

20 


587 

101 


1.329 
709 
282 
257 

2,577 

101 

201 

5° 


1,126 


2,179 
809 
357 
217 

2,662 


1,264 
692 
338 
26l 


Total .... 

Graduates : 
Second year . . 

Fourth year . . 
Entering college . 


1,052 

107 
22 


2,565 
I08 


76 










95 


48 


55 


198 































The Chicago report combines a showing of attendance 
with a statement of promotions : 



Table 80. Chicago 



HIGH SCHOOLS 



ATTENDANCE, PROMOTIONS, ETC., DURING THE SCHOOL YEAR 1903-I904 





Average Daily Membership 


Average Daily Attendance 








<u 

















High Schools 


01 

•s 



■a 

14 




M 

O 






aj 


a 
nj 




-0 









O 




ja 




O 


O 








■a 
a 


u 


a 


Tj 
& 


3 






d 
3 


> 




3 






2 


H 


« 


H 


H 


z 


H 


W 


H 


H 


Austin . . . 


159-4 


117.6 


48.1 


57-2 


382.3 


153-7 


111.6 


42.8 


54-4 


362.5 


Calumet . . 


148.6 


66.0 


51.6 


20.5 


286.7 


139-5 


62.0 


48.5 


19.1 


269.1 


Crane, R. T. . 


529-4 


191.9 


103.6 




824.9 


5H-7 


184.6 


IOI.I 




797-4 



88 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 





Per Cent of Attendance 


Promotions by 


Grades 


High Schools 


a 


1 
u 


T3 
O 


13 
u 






•a 

et) 




•a 
O 


T3 
O 






6 





.g 


J3 




O 


O 














13 

> 
CD 


"5 
is 


3 





a 



a 

<u 

> 


•S 


"3 





% 


H 


w 


H 


H 


s 


H 


w 


H 


h 


Austin . . . 


96.4 


94-9 


89.0 


9S-i 


94.8 


124 


46 


59 


48 


277 


Calumet . . . 


93-9 


94.0 


94.0 


93-2 


93-8 


III 


60 


45 


18 


234 


Crane, R. T. . 


96.7 


96.2 


97.6 




96.7 


308 


104 


75 




487 



Finally, attention may be called to the following form 
from the Buffalo report which, in a city having but few high 
schools, conveys in brief compass much valuable information : 



Table 81. Buffalo 



HIGH SCHOOLS 



Annual registration 

Boys 

Percentage of boys 

Annual average daily attendance 

Boys 

Percentage of average daily attend- 
ance 

Pupils of American parentage, per cent 
Pupils of foreign parentage, per cent 
Pupils of foreign parentage, most 
numerous nationality, per cent . 
Term registration, I term .... 

Boys 

Term registration, II term .... 

Boys 

Term average daily attendance, 

I term 

Boys 

Term average daily attendance, 

II term 

Boys 

Term attendance of pupils of 80 days, 
I term 



C.H. S. 


M. P. H. S. 


L. H.S. 


T.H.S. 


974 


1,235 


1,304 


I02 


413 


523 


595 


I02 


42 


■ 42 


46 


IOO 


781 


1,073 


1,106 


74 


313 


45° 


503 


74 


80 


87 


85 


73 


64 


67 


75 


75 


36 


33 


25 


25 


12 


20 


7 


9 


922 


1,220 


1,277 


88 


389 


5i6 


581 


88 


859 


1,111 


i,i74 


89 


355 


472 


539 


89 


807 


1,130 


i,i55 


73 


327 


472 


525 


73 


754 


1,017 


1,058 


75 


298 


427 


482 


75 


764 


1,178 


1,130 


72 



Total 



3,615 

45 
3,034 
i,34o 

84 
69 

31 

12 
3,5o7 
i,574 
3,233 
i,455 

3,165 
1,397 

2,904 
1,282 

3,i44 



TABLES AND FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS 89 
HIGH SCHOOLS — Continued 

Total 



Boys 

Term attendance of pupils of 80 days, 
II term 

Boys 

Average boys' age, I term .... 
Average girls' age, I term .... 
Pupils 18 years old or more, July 1, 

JOQS 

Boys 

Pupils who, in Sept., 1904, entered for 
the first time 

Boys 

Pupils who, in June, 1905, finished 
their first year's attendance . . 

Boys 

Advanced papers accepted .... 
Preliminary certificates received . . 

Boys 

Advanced certificates received . . . 

Boys 

Academic scholars 

Boys 

Regent's diplomas (48 c) issued . . 

Boys 

Regent's diplomas (more than 48 c) 
issued 

Boys 

Graduates, June, 1905 

Boys 

Teachers, men, including principals 

Teachers, women 

Average number of pupils registered 

per teacher 

Average number of pupils in average 

attendance per teacher . . . 

Library, number of volumes . . . 

Text-books, number of copies . . . 



C. H.S. 


M. P. H. S. 


L. H.S. 


T.H.S. 


299 


5°I 


528 


72 


688 


1,067 


1,026 


74 


256 


460 


466 


74 


15 


16 


16 


15 


16 


16 


16 




202 


117 


189 


3 


100 


57 


78 


3 


411 


478 


553 


88 


153 


209 


266 


88 


274 


458 


448 


88 


9 1 


200 


214 


88 


2,724 


3,783 


3,6i5 


119 


795 


801 


532 


97 


354 


3i5 


240 


97 


585 


759 


739 




195 


285 


329 




921 


1,235 


i,3°4 




383 


523 


595 




137 


194 


*33 




45 


79 


56 




16 


74 


*9 




7 


3 1 


5 




130 


224 


165 




55 


95 


73 




10 


7 


7 


2 


21 


3° 


25 


2 


3 1 


33 


41 


26 


25 


29 


35 


x 9 


4,3o5 


1,892 


608 


281 


5,000 


14,290 


9,020 


39° 



1,400 

2,855 

1,256 

16 

16 

511 

238 

1,530 

716 

1,268 

593 

10,241 

2,225 

1,006 

2,083 

809 
3,46o 
i,5oi 

464 

180 

109 

43 

519 

223 

26 

78 

35 

29 

7,086 

28,700 



9 o 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 



C. H. S. 


M. P. H. S. 


L. H. S. 


T. H. S. 


$32,007.00 


$36,944.00 


$28,763.00 


$4,144.00 


2,000.00 


3,200.00 


4,904.00 


I,IOO.OO 


3>374-o7 


4,85I-54 






210.13 


I5°-59 


127-57 




I.I9IS7 


918.29 


941.00 




1,078.02 


5.474.83 


18,732.38 


6,597.00 


266.42 


70.75 


598.21 


7I3.32 


1,590.16 


3,121.99 


2,991-75 


I,452.6o 


216,125.00 


I 73.475-oo 


156,400.00 


41,000.00 


32.86 


29.91 


22.06 


4O.63 


47-3° 


34-43 


26.01 


56.OO 


8,000.00 


3,220.00 


1,090.00 


4OO.0O 



Total 



Teachers' salaries . . 

Janitors' salaries . . . 

Regents' appropriation . 

Expenditures : Printing 

Library 

Apparatus .... 

Building 

Furniture 

Fuel 

Valuation of lot and 
building 

Cost of tuition, per pupil 
registered 

Cost of tuition, per pupil 
in average daily at- 
tendance 

Library, estimated value 



J101, 858.00 

11,204.00 

8,225.61 

906.99 

488.29 

3,050.86 

31,882.23 

1,648.70 

9,156-50 

587,000.00 

28.18 



33-57 
12,710.00 



Evening Schools 



In many cities evening schools are still in the stage of 
educational experimentation. It is not always evident that 
they respond to a clearly denned need, and it is a fact that 
the attendance in them is frequently irregular. Naturally 
it is harder to demonstrate their educational worth than in 
the case of elementary or high schools. For this reason 
the public is inclined frequently to oppose the spending of 
money on evening schools, and we should expect to find in 
the published reports of superintendents the fullest possible 
statistics of cost, attendance, etc., with respect to evening 
schools. This, however, is the case in but few of the reports. 
It would appear that superintendents and boards of educa- 
tion are either unable or unwilling to give as full data as 
possible, and the result is that public knowledge on the sub- 
ject is incomplete. The best tables are given herewith. 

Since the mere average of attendance in evening schools 
is a very uncertain showing, the St. Louis table gives much 



TABLES AND FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS 91 

more definite information as to whether sufficient attendance 
has been made to justify expenditure : 

Table 82. St. Louis 

SHOWING ATTENDANCE OF PUPILS IN THE EVENING 
SCHOOLS, 1904-1905 



Name of Schools 



Attending 
60 Nights 



50-60 



Less 
than 10 



O'Fallon Polytechnic Institute 

McKinley High 

Blow 



124 

80 
7 



131 
120 



154 
60 



60 
30 



18 

in 

27 



Name of Schools 


Total 
Enrollment 


1 
a bo 
II 

U <D 

< 


oil 

< 


Per Cent 

of 
Attend- 
ance 


3"ag 
< 


Average 
Number 

of 
Teachers 


O'Fallon Polytechnic Institute . . 
Blow 


529 
424 
126 


332 

264 

71 


282 
213 

52 


85 
81 
73 


26 
26 
18 


13 
10 
4 





A similar table is presented in the Chicago report : 

Table 83. Chicago 

DURATION OF ATTENDANCE OF PUPILS ATTENDING 
EVENING SCHOOLS 





For 20 Weeks or 
Over 


For 16 Weeks and 
Less than 20 Weeks 


For 12 Weeks and 
Less than 16 Weeks 


Schools 


73 


a 

Pn 


73 

H 


<L> 

75 




73 
a 


73 

H 



73 


73 

a 


O 

H 


Crane, R. T., High . . 




















MedillHigh . . . . 






24 

47 






52 

54 






66 

35 



9 2 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 





For 8 Weeks and 
Less than 12 Weeks 


For 4 Weeks and 
Less than 8 Weeks 


Less than 4 Weeks 


Schools 


JD 

"3 
8 


"3 

a 

fa 


"3 



CD 

"3 
9 


4) . 

"3 

a 

fa 


"3 

H 


"3 
3 


"3 

a 


"3 

H 


Crane, R. T., High . . 






67 

115 

54 






88 
116 

55 






137 
31 
14 



Another fact, not less significant than regularity of attend- 
ance in evening schools, is the age of those reached. Here, 
again, the average of age is not a satisfactory statement, so 
we find the following in the Chicago report : 

Table 84. Chicago 
AGE OF PUPILS ATTENDING EVENING SCHOOLS 





Between 12 


AND 


Between 15 and 


Between 18 and 




15 Years 


18 Years 


21 Years 


Schools 




<o 






CD 






CD 






"3 


C3 

a 

CD 

fa 


3 
O 


CD 

"3 


a! 

a 

CD 

fa 


3 


H 


"3 


3 

a • 
fa 


3 




Crane, R. T., High . . 


42 


6 


48 


46 


19 


65 


60 


15 


75 


Englewood High . . . 


11 


3 


14 


77 


30 


107 


53 


33 


86 


MedillHigh .... 


19 


11 


3° 


96 


42 


138 


36 


23 


59 





Between 21 and 
25 Years 


Between 25 and 
30 Years 


Over 30 Years 


Schools 


"3 


0) 

"3 

a 

CD 
fa 


3 


H 


"3 


"3 

a 

CD 
fa 


3 


H 


"3 
9 


■3 

a 

CD 
fa 


"3 


Crane, R. T., High . . 
Englewood High . . . 
MedillHigh .... 


25 
37 
4 


8 

55 

9 


33 
92 
13 


13 
19 
6 


2 
5° 

6 


15 
60 
12 


6 
17 
6 


19 

I 


6 
36 

7 



An excellent table combining information as to age, attend- 
ance, and nativity is found in the Philadelphia report : 



TABLES AND FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS 



93 



Table 85. Philadelphia 

EVENING SCHOOL STATISTICS FOR THE TERM 
OF 1 904- 1 905 





bo 
P 


t5 


S3 


Ja 


3 


d 


» 


10 




d 




13 


(M 


-a 


CD 


u 


d 


















9 <u 


Schools 


Id 
1,3 d. 

s g 


■§ a 

'Sri 


a 
a 

" <u 


T3 

d 
u 

13 

bo 

.a 

d 


u 
d 

as 
T3 

ga 

<H 
Si 


a 

•> - 

so E 

d 

bO.H 


•a 


g so 

CUu-, 
.O O 

tn »_. 

S3 a) 

3>H 

P* M 




u +-> 


U 


2 so 


■° s 


gbO 


rt ^ 




OT3 

■ 9 

O ai 




d"o 


o^ 


g.S 


oH 


<u d 


y-o 


d>< 




z 


fc 


< 


» 


< 


< 


fc 


|25 


Evening High, Men .... 


2,590 


3,981 


2,061 


1,173 


1,365 


99 


121 


2,411 


Evening High, Women . 


601 


745 


487 


346 


405 


84 


26 


38S 


C. S. Close, Males and Females 


423 


842 


42s 


355 


265 


62 


266 


493 





d 




d 

J) bO 


% 

d 
a) bo 

£< 


O 


ft 

d 


IS 
Ph 

,d 
d 


d a 

as 

PhPh 

d &> 
•a 73 
d - s 


.a > 

d 
.a d 


.a 

d 


Schools 


X> SO 

m <3 


XI 


^ 

13 n 


>• 
O 


*S 



.a 


2 5 


is 




5° 

3 « 

<D 


ft «j 

^ 


ft" 

*o 


'ft 

3 
M81 


bO 
< 
V 


3.2 

pH-a 


a 


Ph « 


3 3 

£3 




"Six 


0-0 


Ot3 


-*< 


a 


<u 


■sl^ 




"S d 






. d 


. d 






."0 


• >>.s 


. 3 






f*3 


O aJ 


<tf 


6 




«j 




O O 


<u 




£ 


£ 


15 


& 


< 


fc 


& 


£ 


I? 


Evening High, Men .... 


1,190 


204 


43 


12 


21 


2,546 


380 


525 


53o 


Evening High, Women . 


248 


63 


21 


2 


23 


500 


76 


77 


92 


C. S. Close, Males and Females 


70 


II 


2 




17 


570 


8 


41 


223 



Another excellent table showing how many facts may be 
combined in one comprehensive showing is from the Buffalo 

report : 



94 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 



Table 86. Buffalo 



EVENING GRAMMAR SCHOOLS 



ELEVEN SCHOOLS. TWENTY WEEKS, FROM OCTOBER 3, 1904, TO 
APRIL 29, 1905 

(School in session: 3 evenings per week, from 7.30 to 9.30) 





Total 


First Week 


Seventeenth 
Week 


Term 


No. of 
Teachers 
including 
Principal 




School 


Regis- 
tration 


Regis- 
tration 


Av. At- 
tend- 
ance 


Regis- 
tration 


Av. At- 
tend- 
ance 


Regis- 
tration 


Average 
Attendance 


Cost 

of 

Tui- 




3 



H 




pq 


~3 





pq 


3 


H 


>> 



3 





pq 


3 


H 





3 


H 



pq 


"3 




pq 


* 

a 
U 

Ol, 


3 

H 


a 


tion 


No. 2 

No. 20 . . 

No. 31 . . 


215 

256 
34i 


215 
204 
218 


13s 
194 

273 


135 

144 
180 


125 
184 

211 


125 
13s 

132 


102 
no 
196 


102 

73 

120 


87 
93 
163 


87 
60 
96 


123 

164 
216 


123 
116 
134 


107 
140 
178 


107 
96 
106 


87 

85 
82 


8 
6 
10 


1 
4 
5 


8615 

77o 

1,200 



Salaries: Supervisor, $250; principals, 83.50; male assistants, $2.50; female assistants, 
$2; janitors, $2 per evening. 

Expenditures: Teachers, $9,211; janitors, 81,244; total, $10,455; excluding supervisor's 
salary, but including the salaries ($332) of three teachers of domestic science at Nos. 20, 31, 
35, 44, and 57, and ($155) of two teachers of sewing at Nos. 20, 31, 38, and 57. 

Cost of tuition: $5.89 per pupil registered, $6.90 per pupil in average attendance, referring 
to the term averages. 

Duration of term: 15 weeks at No. 2; 17 weeks at Nos. 35, 38, and 43; 18 weeks at No. 20; 
20 weeks at all other schools which added one more day after the twentieth week. No. 2 
finished at the same time with Nos. 31, 39, 44, 55, 57, and 58, having commenced 6 weeks 
later than the other schools; it added an extra week of 4 evenings when the other schools were 
closed for Christmas vacation, and was open 4 evenings for 5 weeks all together. No. 57 counted 
one week of 4 evenings in starting, Nos. 35 and 43 an additional day after closing. During 
the week after the vacation, all schools, excluding No. 2, were open for 2 evenings. 

Pupils who attended 1 evening only, 44 (30 boys); who attended 2 evenings only, 
38 (27 boys); who attended 3 evenings only, 25 (19 boys); total 107 (76 boys). This 
enumeration excludes Nos. 2, 57, and 58. 



As showing the cost alone, the following table from the St. 
Louis report is satisfactory : 

* Refers to the total term registration. 



TABLES AND FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS 95 

Table 87. St. Louis 

DETAILED STATEMENT OF EXPENDITURES FOR EVEN- 
ING SCHOOLS FOR FISCAL YEAR 1904-1905 





Salaries 


Text-Books 




Schools 


43 

H 




1 
>— 1 


3 


H 


"Sfl 

l-i w 

O 




73 



N 

d 


•a 


Central High . . . 
McKinley High . . 
Blow 


$1,938 
1,452 

609 


$170 
152 

5° 


$2,108 

1,604 

659 


$57 
22 


$60 

262 

3 


$60 

320 

25 


$24 
67 

6 




Schoolroom Supplies 







H 


Is 1 
^ § 

u 




Schools 


S 

8.S 

la 


01 

u 
d en 

M 8 

(A 


J. 60 

d g 

3 & 

ty: ts 


"c3 



p. 


u 


Central High . . . 
McKinley High . . 
Blow 


%2 

8 






$52 

8 


$2,225 

2,000 

691 


332 

264 

71 


$6 
7 
9 













In addition to the above illustrations, it may be pointed out 
that the published reports for the schools of St. Louis, Chicago, 
Providence, and a few other cities give comprehensive infor- 
mation regarding age, attendance, nativity, character of 
studies taken, cost, and many other facts which tend to give 
the public a clear notion of the work of the evening school 
system. 

Vacation Schools 

Even more than the evening school may the vacation school 
be said to be in an experimental stage. Many cities are, 
however, experimenting, and any reader of the reports must 
be disappointed with the meagerness of the information 



9 6 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 



furnished to the public regarding the main facts of the new 
work. After stating that the cost of the vacation schools 
for the year 1904 was $1,495 for salaries of teachers and jani- 
tors, and $184 for supplies, or $2.34 for each child in average 
daily attendance, the Cambridge report gives the following 
table : 



Table 88. Cambridge 



School 


Subject 


Number 
Registered 


Average 
Attendance 


English High School . . . 
English High School . . . 
English High School . . . 


Academic . . . 
Basketry . . . 
Cooking . . . 


52 
96 

99 


35 
57 
63 



The New York report gives attendance by schools in the 
following form: 

Table 89. New York 



VACATION SCHOOLS 



MANHATTAN 





School 


Number of 
Teachers 


Total 
Enrollment 


Aggregate 
Attendance 


Average 
Attendance 


Per Cent 

on Total 

Enrollment 


One .... 
Seven .... 
Eight .... 


17 
17 
17 


813 

787 

1,005 


13,610 
10,113 
I5,9H 


454 

337 
530 


55 
42 

52 



Allied to the vacation school is the organized playground 
for which also various cities present statistics. In the Newark 
report we find the following : 



TABLES AND FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS 97 

Table 90. Newark 

PLAYGROUNDS 



Playground 


Session 


Average 


Daily Attendance 


Number of 


Males 


Females 


Totals 


Teachers 


Branch Brook Park . . 


All day 


405 


332 


737 


4 


West Side Park . . . 


All day 


274 


236 


5io 


4 


East Side Park . . . 


All day 


296 


l8l 


477 


5 



As in the case of vacation schools, the New York report 
gives the fullest information regarding playgrounds in the 
following form : 



Table 91. New York 

VACATION SCHOOLS — MANHATTAN 

VACATION PLAYGROUNDS 



School 



Seven . 
Eleven . 
Fourteen 
Sixteen . 



Number of 
Teachers 



Attendance 



33,030 

12,735 

19,277 

7,808 



OPEN-AIR PLAYGROUND 



Average 
Attendance 



354 
402 
163 



65th Street, West of Broadway 


2 


11,092 


231 


KINDERGARTEN CENTER 


Belle vue Hospital .... 


1 


i,57i 


33 


AFTERNOON ROOF PLAYGROUND 


Educational Alliance . . . 


1 


75,349 


1,570 



9 8 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 



EVENING ROOF PLAYGROUNDS 



One . . . 

Twenty 
Twenty -one 



118,142 

196,294 

88,024 



2,461 
4,089 
1,834 



AFTERNOON PLAYGROUNDS — FOR MOTHERS AND BABIES 



Eight . . 

Thirteen 
Seventy-five 



11,463 

8,300 

12,518 



EVENING RECREATION CENTERS 



239 
173 
261 



One. . 

Twenty 



89,459 
120,982 



503 

587 



PUBLIC SCHOOL BATHS 



School 


Opened 


Closed 


Total Number Bathed 


Boys 


Girls 


One 

Thirty-four 


July i 
July 1 


Sept. 2 
Sept. 2 


12,838 
12,358 


14,696 
17,545 



School Libraries 

Though the idea of a schoolroom or school-building library 
for the use of children is by no means new, it is nevertheless 
true that many cities have made little progress in developing 
them. In a few cities the school library has become a great 
adjunct in education, and systematic efforts are made to 
develop such libraries. A few city reports give sufficient 
information regarding this work to make it desirable to 
present it in statistical form. Some of the tables are full 
of significant information, whilst others are almost meaning- 
less. 



TABLES AND FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS 99 

The following tables from the New York report are quite 
full : 

Table 92. New York 

REPORT ON SCHOOL LIBRARIES 

SEPTEMBER, 1904 TO JUNE, 1905 



Borough 


Number 
Schools 
Reported 


Number 
Classes 


Number 

Class 
Libraries 


Number 
Volumes 

Class 
Libraries 


Number 
Volumes 
Reference 
Libraries 


Total 
Volumes 
Reference 
and Class 
Libraries 


Richmond .... 


185 

41 

I3S 

76 

34 


5,391 
973 

3,652 
909 
286 


4,811 

801 

2,655 

684 

224 


169,536 

29,712 

85,685 

23,137 

8,493 


82,803 

20,182 

21,655 

6,854 

2,195 


252,339 
49,894 

107,340 
29,991 
10,688 


Totals 


47i 


n, 211 


9,175 


316,563 


133,689 


450,252 


Increase over 1903- 1904 


32 


1,066 


1,194 


7o,4i5 


20,277 


90,692 



CIRCULATION 



Borough 


Class 
Libraries 


Reference 
Libraries 


Total 




3,411,987 

1,416,483 

476,883 

246,017 

67,769 


128,561 

31,934 

70,920 

19,690 

2,127 


3,540,548 

1,448,417 

547,803 

265,707 

69,896 








Totals 


5,619,139 


253,232 


5,872,371 




Increase over 1903- 1904 (5 months only) . . . 


2,950,670 


161,985 


3,112,655 



CIRCULATION OF CLASS LIBRARIES BY GRADES 



First year 

Second year 

Third year 

Fourth year 

Fifth year 

Sixth year 

Seventh year 

Eighth year 

Total 

Teachers' Reference Libraries . . 

Total Reference and Class Libraries 



648,749 
746,720 
928,340 
969,666 
808,481 
672,451 
465,051 
379,681 

5,619,139 



253,232 
5,872,371 



LOFC. 



IOO 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 



The following table from the New Orleans report is of 
interest : 

Table 93. New Orleans 



VOLUMES IN SCHOOL LIBRARY 

SESSION I904-IOO5 





V 


cs) 

c 
o 


s 

3 




>> 






T3 


T3 




>> 


2 






13 




Colored 


C 


trl 





>> 




» 




1j» 


-.9 


4) 


cd 




2 


^3 




Elementary Schools 


M 


O 


fill 





K 







_!=•£> 


•3 In 


3 


M 


OJ 


T5 


in 3 

r 






& 





■3< 


w 




s 


H 


£ 


r 


CDQ 




O 


U 


(2 




H 


FIRST DISTRICT 
































Fisk 


3° 


4 


19 


9 


12 


9 


26 


6 


I 


8 


5 


I 


45 


S3 


228 


SECOND DISTRICT 
































Robertson .... 


22 


7 


7 


22 


IO 


12 


45 


40 


18 


29 


10 


3 


11 


10 


245 



The financial side of the school library is especially brought 
out in the following table from the Paterson report : 

Table 94. Paterson 

SHOWING CONDITION OF LIBRARIES IN THE SEVERAL 
SCHOOLS FOR YEAR ENDING JUNE, 1903 



Name of 
School 


so 
.a 

3 

-a 

'3 

u % 

3>< 
3 (11 
e 

a- 
< 


3 

_o 

p. 

■s-s 

3 m 


§3 

-a.S 

CD u 
> 3 
•53 T3 

CD CD 

a^K 

3 „, d 

< 


3J 

O ■*-• 

0.43 

3 > 
as 
<: 


3 CD 

a>n 

CO 0> 

O ** 
O bo 

W.S 

"ft 3 

CD ij 
,0 en 

1° 


cu 

O 03 

S ft 

5s -a 
.S 3 
S.S 

3 > 


U CD 

.25 

■3 9 

-o'C 

B 3 
& « 

gas 

< 


M 3 
d 

AS 

2 ft 

3 ft 
|< 

ss 

0,m-i 

s-s 

55 
gft 
< 


3 ~ 
«1 
%■$ 

3-S 
1? 


3 

•ag 

M CD 
J3 
033 

M M 

«« 3 

>H 3 

«TJ 

S3 
3 O 


O 

O 
J3 

u 
W 

"o 

OJ 

_3 

"3 

«! 

CD^ 

S3 

P4 


cd 
P. 
P. 
< 

13 

CD 

_3 

> 

a S 

CD 43 

CD 2 


High . . 


























No. 1 . . 

No. 3 . . 
No. 4 . . 


$11 


$25 

80 
8 


$10 


S3 
80 


70 


70 
800 
6l7 


$9 


$10 
6 
3 


185 
500 
490 

IOO 


164 

2,600 

50 


$IOO 
IOO 


$30 
15 

3 













TABLES AND FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS IOI 

Medical Inspection 

Medical inspection is yet too imperfectly developed in 
American education to admit of definite description in 
school reports. In many large cities it does not go beyond 
some temporary matters of dealing with epidemics and 
vaccination. At present it is difficult for the interested 
student to discover, even where inspection is well developed, 
what it costs to maintain. Only the largest cities present 
any statistics at all (with the exception of Newark) and 
these barely give certain classified totals. 

The first table is taken from the Chicago report, and is 
valuable as indicating the number of suspicious cases ex- 
amined each month, and the size of the inspecting force: 



Table 95. Chicago 
REPORT OF MEDICAL INSPECTION OF SCHOOLS 





Date 


5 
67 


13 
CD 

fa 

m 



1 


ho 

3 

O 

u 

be 
C 
Q 







fa 
a 

cu 
M 

'.3 


a 



H 


ft 

S 
3 

% 


Li 

O 
3 >> 

§w 
fa 




.£? 

a 



3 

fa 


g 
3 
is 

bo 

c 

fa 


si 

£ 

fa 


s 

-3 
O 


a 
.2 




3 
_ P.T3 

Ifa.E 
H 


0u 

OK 1 

iu 
-° 

6 ° M 

3 &O 


"3 

O cd 


September, 1903 
October, 1903 . 
November, 1903 
December, 1903 
January, 1904 
February, 1904 
March, 1904 . 
April, 1904 . . 
May, 1904 . . 
June, 1904 . . 




26 


44 


8 


113 


118 


166 




290 


147 


Si 


3 




106 

166 

155 

58 

64 

78 

233 

118 

102 

102 


625 
683 
701 
315 
283 
816 
1,815 
966 

959 
576 


9 
9 

12 
12 
IO 
12 
12 
12 
12 
12 


14 
12 
n 
2 

1 
7 
3 

1 


Total . . 


14 


135 


1,182 


7>74i 




51 



The next two tables are taken from the New York report 
and serve fairly well to indicate the extent of the work there, 
and indicate also the progress in the recognition of chronic 



102 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 



ailing conditions as well as those other illnesses which take 
the form of epidemics: 

Table 96. New York 

REPORT OF WORK PERFORMED BY MEDICAL INSPEC- 
TORS OF SCHOOLS IN ALL BOROUGHS, CITY OF NEW 
YORK, 1903, 1904, 1905 





1903 


1904 


iQ°5 


Number of visits to schools . . 
Number of children examined . 
Number of children excluded . . 

Reasons for exclusion: 

Scarlet Fever 

Whooping Cough 

Contagious Eye Diseases . . 

Pediculosis 

Chicken Pox 

Contagious Skin Diseases . . 
Miscellaneous 


103,301 

11,301,691 

65,294 

250 

53° 
66 

364 

32,525 

21,100 

909 

4,029 

5,52i 


101,766 

12,236,050 

25,369 

1,172 

155 

55 

187 

10,624 

8,717 

780 

2,123 

i,556 


88,964 

6,285,435 

18,844 

312 

74 

47 

35i 

8,833 

4,692 

937 
2,018 
1,580 


Total 


65,294 


25,369 


18,844 



Table 97. New York 

PHYSICAL RECORD 

MARCH 27 TO DECEMBER 23, I905 

Number of cases of 

Bad nutrition 3,283 

Diseased anterior cervical glands 14,214 

Diseased posterior cervical glands 3,047 

Chorea 738 

Cardiac disease 895 

Pulmonary disease 600 

Skin disease 989 

Deformity of spine 485 



TABLES AND FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS 103 

Deformity of chest 401 

Deformity of extremities 498 

Defective vision 16,394 

Defective hearing 1,296 

Defective nasal breathing 6,182 

Defective teeth 18,182 

Defective palate 698 

Hypertrophied tonsils 8,347 

Posterior nasal growths 5, 119 

Defective mentality 1,210 

Where treatment was necessary 33)55! 

Number examined S5,33 2 

Special Statistics of Teachers 

The facts regarding the teaching force of a city which 
may be presented in statistical form embrace such cate- 
gories as: number, number in each class, classified salaries, 
kind of education, length of service in city, total length of 
service, etc. 

Some of the reports give lists of teachers with names and 
addresses; in a few instances salary is added, and in oc- 
casional cases the character of the education of the teacher. 
Many of the reports publish salary schedules. The number 
of pupils per teacher is given in a few instances, or the num- 
ber of teachers under charge of one supervisor. 

The following is an example of a classified statement of the 
principal facts regarding the teaching force : 

Table 98. Reading 

The following is the Annual Statistical report of the Superintendent 
for the school year ending June, 1904, to State Department: 

Number of schoolhouses 47 

Number of schoolrooms ' . . 320 

Seating capacity 14,000 

Number of rooms without sufficient seating capacity .... o 

Number of houses built during the year 2 

Number of good schoolhouses 47 



104 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 



Number of rooms with suitable furniture 320 

Number of rooms supplied with furniture during the year . . 16 

Number of schools 312 

Number of graded schools 312 

Number in which the Bible is read 312 

Number in which any of the higher branches are taught . . 2 

Number of public examinations held 1 

Number of provisional certificates granted 85 

Number of professional certificates granted 3 

Number of applicants rejected 1 

Number of male teachers employed 9 

Number of female teachers employed 324 

Average age of teachers 29 

Number of teachers who have had no previous experience . . 13 

Number who had previously taught five or more annual terms 12 

Number of teachers employed who hold provisional certificates 34 

Number of teachers employed who hold professional certificates 271 

Number of teachers employed who hold permanent certificates 28 
Number of teachers employed who are graduates at a State 

Normal School 1 

Number who have attended a State Normal School but are not 

graduates . . ■ o 

Number of teachers employed who were educated in the com- 
mon schools 319 

Number educated in academies or seminaries 1 

Number who are graduates of colleges 12 

The following enumeration of the attendance, etc., of each 
teacher, found in the Pawtucket report, is possible only in 
the report of a small city: 

Table 99. Pawtucket 



Names of Teachers 


>> 



°£ 

■£> fao 


3-a 

•4-1 ^ 


u 

°o 


M 

I. 

1-9 


'ctf 

Q 
M a 


°8 

a)TJ 

0% 


> 

u 




£ *i 


S °i 


B & 


f- <D 


u -«-> 




S 3 




%& 


y« 


5> 


£« 


H< 


fc< 


S-- 




£ 


£ 


£ 


< 


< 


Ph 


fc 


CHURCH HILL 


23 


16 


10 


34 


32 


93 


21 




39 


22 


3 


52 


48 


92 


90 




12 


12 




20 


19 


94 


24 



TABLES AND FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS 105 

T he summaries of teachers and pupils found in the Boston 
reports convey useful information in brief form : 



Table 100. Boston 



SUMMARY 





. 


Number of 


ha 


<u 




T3 










Regular Teachers 


8 3 

a a 


a 
1 


a 

at 




od 










Q 


General Schools 


'S 








I"" 

!zra 


< 


< 


"o 


cj 

















O 




h 




J3 




V 




sra 


bfl 


M 


rS S 


-Q 




3 


a 


a 







< 


M 
O 


> 

< 


~ a 


iz; 


Normal . . . 


I 


5 


10 


15 


266 


260 


6 


97-7 


265 


Latin and High 


12 


93 


117 


215 


6,732 


6,286 


446 


93-3 


6,366 


Grammar . . 


62 


i34 


875 


1,009 


44,665 


41,109 


3,556 


92.0 


43,622 



A special table to indicate term of service is found some- 
times as in the Newark report: 

Table ioi. Newark 

TERM OF SERVICE OF TEACHERS 

In the following table the teachers of the city are grouped according 
to their total experience in teaching: 

Number who have been teaching 1 year or less 66 

Number between 1 and 5 years 199 

Number between 5 and 10 years 297 

Number between 10 and 15 years 174 

Or to indicate salary schedule : 

Table 102. St. Loins 





3 

E 


u 

a 

& 

a 


in 


S3 

CD 
T3 


U 

3 
O 


3 

E 


13 

■B 
00 


t3 
V 

>< 
■3 

d 
> 
en 


3 

bO 
W 




1,840 

1,600 

1,304 

976 


$3,600 
1,968 
i,744 
i,432 
1,040 














Prin. Class A Schools (18 or more Assts.) 
Prin. Class B Schools (14 to 17 Assts.) 
Prin. Class C Schools (10 to 13 Assts.) . 
Prin. Class D Schools (8 or 9 Assts.) . 


$2 ,064 
1,840 
1,540 
1,104 


$2,184 
1,968 
1,640 
1,160 


$2,304 
1,216 


$2 ,400 







io6 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 



More satisfactory is the schedule showing salaries dis- 
tributed according to the number receiving them; as in 
Chicago report: 

Table 103. Chicago 

TEACHERS IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 



Salary 
$1,025 
I,000 

975 
950 
9 2 5 
900 

875 
850 
825 
775 



Number 
Receiving 

2 

14 

42 

38 

193 

168 

I,Oo6 

1,785 

202 

40 



Salary 

$750 

725 

700 

675 
650 
625 
60O 
55° 



Number 
Receiving 

219 

37 

189 

8 

3 

79 
164 

356 



Total number 



4,545 



Finally the following table from the Erie report shows how 
a large number of facts may be satisfactorily presented in 
one table: 



Table 104. Erie 



TEACHERS — 1901-1902 





To- 
tal 


No. edu- 
cated 
wholly in 
Erie 


No. gradu- 
ated from 
Erie High 
School 


No. Erie 

Training 

Class 


No. hold- 
ing State 
Normal, 
College or 
University 
Cert. 


No. 
having 
Taught 
previ- 
ous to 

Erie 


Certificate 


Experience 


Prov. 


Prof. 


Perm. 


Less than i year 
One .... 
Two .... 
Three. . . . 


8 
22 

20 
20 


8 
IS 
19 

17 


8 
18 
20 
19 


8 
17 
19 
15 


2 


2 


8 
22 

S 
3 


IS 
14 


1 



Years' 
Experience 


German 
Teachers 


Principals 


Number receiving per Month 


As 
Eng- 
lish 


As 
Ger- 
man 


As 

Teacher 

Only 


As 

Prin- 
cipal 


820 
to 

$2 5 


$26 

to 

$3° 


S3 1 
to 

$35 


$36 
to 

$40 


$to6 
to 

$110 


$121 
to 

$125 


$136 

to 

$140 


$156 

to 

$160 


$181 
to 

$185 


$211 

to 

$2 IS 


Less than i year 
One .... 


2 
2 


5 

1 


1 




I 


6 
7 

1 
1 


2 

IO 

3 

1 
















2 

16 
IS 














Two .... 














Three .... 





























TABLES AND FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS 



107 



Summaries of Principal Facts 

Where considerable statistical information has been 
collected, it is sometimes possible to combine much of it 
in one presentation which becomes highly effective for the 
information of the busy reader. An examination of many 
reports will show that few of them succeed well in sum- 
marizing information in a statistical way. The following 
tables represent some of the most successful devices in this 
direction. The first is the recapitulation form used in the 
Duluth report where facts of all varieties are presented so 
as to make comparison for four years possible: 



Table 105. Duluth 



RECAPITULATION 

STATISTICS 



Number of cases corporal punishment . . . 

Number times tardy 

Number times absent 

Number suspended for irregular attendance . 
Number suspended for misconduct . . . . 
Absence of teachers (in half days) . . . . 
Number of schoolhouses owned by city . . 
Number of schoolhouses built during year 
Number of schoolhouses under construction . 

Number of schoolrooms in use 

Number of sittings in use 

Number of supervising principals 

Number of teachers in grammar grades . . 
Number of teachers in intermediate grades . 
Number of teachers in primary grades . . . 
Number of teachers in ungraded schools . . 

Number of teachers of drawing 

Number of teachers in High School . . . . 
Number of teachers of penmanship . . . . 
Number of teachers of physical culture . . . 
Number of teachers in kindergartens . . . 
Total number of teachers and principals . . 
Average monthly wages of teachers — male . 
Average monthly wages of teachers — female 



io8 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 



RECAPITULATION — {Continued) 

STATISTICS 



Money expended for text-books 

Cost per pupil for text-books on enrollment 

Cost per pupil for text-books on average attendance 

Cost per pupil for text-books on average number belonging . . . 
Money expended for supplies (not text-books, fuel, etc.) .... 
Cost per pupil for supplies on enrollment (not text-books, fuel, etc.) 

Cost per pupil on average attendance 

Cost per pupil on average number belonging 

Cost per pupil for janitors' salaries on enrollment 

Cost per pupil for janitors' salaries on average attendance . . . 
Cost per pupil for janitors' salaries on average number belonging . 

Cost per pupil for teachers' salaries on enrollment 

Cost per pupil for teachers' salaries on average attendance . . . 
Cost per pupil for teachers' salaries on average number belonging 

Cost per pupil for incidentals on enrollment 

Cost per pupil for incidentals on average attendance 

Cost per pupil for incidentals on average number belonging . . . 

Cost per pupil for fuel and lights on enrollment 

Cost per pupil for fuel and lights on average attendance .... 
Cost per pupil for fuel and lights on average number belonging . 

Cost per pupil for repairs and improvements 

Cost per pupil for repairs and improvements on average attendance 
Cost per pupil for repairs and improvements on average number be- 
longing 

Total cost per pupil on enrollment 

Total cost per pupil on average attendance 

Total cost per pupil on average number belonging 

Cost per pupil for sundries on enrollment 

Cost per pupil for sundries on average attendance 

Cost per pupil for sundries on average number belonging . . . 

Grand total per pupil on enrollment 

Grand total per pupil on average attendance 

Grand total per pupil on average number belonging 

Number of school days 

Number of pupils enrolled 

Number under 5 years of age enrolled 

Number between 5 and 8 enrolled 

Number between 8 and 16 enrolled 

Number between 16 and 21 enrolled 

Number over 21 years of age enrolled 



A similar table from the Grand Rapids report gives the 
main facts in a comparative way and partly for two years. 



TABLES AND FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS 109 
Table 106. Grand Rapids 

GENERAL STATISTICS 



1. Population of city according to state census . . . 

2. School population according to census (legal) school 

age s to 20 years 

3. Whole number of different pupils enrolled 

4. Estimated number in schools not public 

5. Number of school days in the year . . 

6. Number of days taught 

7. Estimated cash value of school property 

8. Assessed value of taxable property . . 
0. Tax for school purposes, mills per dollar 

10. Cost of superintendence and instruction 

11. Cost of permanent improvements . . 

12. Cost of incidentals 



95.783 

26,907 
15,662 
4.45° 
200 
188 
Si, 700,000.00 
73.93S.6oo.oo 
S 
284,849.30 
16,399.94 
147,982.01 



100,000 

26,908 

15,539 

5i"2 

200 

194 

,750,000.00 

,507,026.00 

4.80 

285,413.50 

30,880.98 

130,615.49 






IS 

cj ft 

00 


"3 c 

V 

w tl 

KQ 


7,671 


1.673 


2,368 


206 


5,303 


1,467 


5.231 


1,492 


4,381 


1,189 


4.231 


1,215 


4,158 


1,158 


4.043 


1,162 


3.736 


1,182 


7i 


14! 


143 IS 


30 


2 




35 


27.6 


$24.44 


$36.39 


10.12 


10.12 


34-56 


46.51 


21 


43 


14.8 


18.5 



13. Total enrollment in each department 

14. Total transfers in each department 

15. Total different pupils enrolled 

16. Total of different pupils enrolled last year . . . 

17. Average number belonging 

18. Average number belonging last year 

19. Average daily attendance 

20. Average daily attendance last year 

21. Actual number of pupils belonging at close of school 

year 

22. Number of men teachers, including superintendent 

23. Number of women teachers 

24. Number of special teachers 

25. Number of pupils to teacher, based on average num- 

ber belonging 

26. Cost of education per capita for superintendence and 

instruction, based on average number belong- 
ing 

27. Cost per capita for incidentals, based on average 

number belonging 

28. Total cost per capita for education 

29. Number of nonresident pupils 

30. Average age of class promoted 

31. Number of pupils studying Latin, 606; Greek, 9; 

German, 425; French, 86 



12,796 
4,027 
8,769 
8,939 
7,332 
7,546 
6,939 
7,"3 

5,77i 
2! 
223IJ 
2 

36.8 

$20.06 

10.12 
30.18 
14 
11. 1 



22,140 
6,601 
15,539 
15,662 
12,902 
12,992 
12,255 
12,318 

10,689 

25 

397 

4 

35 



$22.12 



32.24 

78 



IIO EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 

The scheme adopted by the Superintendents' Convention 
in 1899 also shows a large number of facts in order, the 
illustration being taken from the Kansas City report: 

Table 107. Kansas City 

REPORT OF SCHOOL RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES 
FOR THE YEAR 

{Scheme adopted by City Superintendents' Convention, 1899) 

1. Estimated actual value of all property in the city (or 

school district or corporation) 

2. Assessed valuation of all property in city (or school dis- 

trict or corporation) $76,000,000 

3. Rate of school tax levied on each dollar of assessed val- 

uation of city (or school district or corporation) . . 10 mills 

RECEIPTS 

4. Received from state apportionment of taxes . . . 78,445 

5. Received from county apportionment or taxes . . . 

6. Received from city (or school district or corporation) 

taxes 773,196 

7. Received from fines, licenses, penalties, etc. . . . I >°79 

8. Received from all other sources, except loans and bond 

sales (specify different sources) 25,766 

9. Received from loans 

10. Received from bond sales 

ii. Total receipts, all sources $878,487 

EXPENDITURES 

12. Paid for salaries of teachers and supervisors . . . $415,287 

13. Paid for current expenses (excluding interest, but in- 

cluding salaries of officers, janitors, fuel and lights, 
text-books, including drawing and writing books, 
stationery and other supplies for schools, ordinary 
repairs to buildings, and all other current expenses) 84,157 

13}. For Library and Library Building Expenses . . . 3°>49i 

14. Paid for sites ... i 5j55° 

15. Paid for additions and new buildings 238,292 

16. Paid for permanent furnishings and furniture . . . 1,466 

17. Paid for permanent equipment for manual training, 

science and laboratories, etc 6,476 

18. Paid for reference and library books 68 



TABLES AND FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS III 

19. Paid for all other permanent improvements, such as 

grading, paving, etc. (specify different expendi- 
tures). Paving, $3,953; grading, $1,164; sewers, 
$160; condemnations, $21; curbing, $716; side- 
walks, $2,375; trees > $ x 45 tota l 8,405 

20. Paid for interest 7°j534 

21. Paid for principal of loans 

22. Paid for principal of bonded debt 35,ooo 

23. Total paid out, all purposes $905,709 

24. Cash on hand at beginning of year (net) .... $133,743 

25. Cash on hand at beginning of year in fund for sites and 

buildings (included in 24) 

26. Cash on hand at beginning of year and sinking fund 

(included in 24) 50,488 

27. Warrants outstanding, beginning of year .... 9>4 I 7 

28. Cash on hand at end of year (net) 103,619 

29. Cash on hand at end of year in fund for sites and build- 

ings (included in 28) 

30. Cash on hand at end of year in sinking fund (included 

in 28) 67,420 

31. Warrants outstanding at end of year 6,516 

32. Paid current expenses, evening schools (included in 12 

and 13) 

33. Paid current expenses, teachers' training schools (in- 

cluded in 12 and 13) 

34. Paid current expenses schools for defective or other 

special schools (included in 12 and 13. Specify 
different schools) 

35. Bond school debt of city for school district or corpora- 

tion at end of year 1,705,000 

36. Population of city (or school district or corporation) . 175,000 

37. Persons of school age, 6 to 20 years, inclusive, in city 

(or school district or corporation) 61,749 

38. Number of pupils enrolled, all schools 28,280 

39. Average number in daily membership, all schools . 22,668 

40. Average number in daily attendance, all schools . . 20,994 

41. Average number in daily attendance, night schools (in- 

cluded in 40) 

42. Average number in daily attendance, teachers' training 

schools (included in 40) 

43. Average number in daily attendance, schools for defec- 



112 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 



tive or other special schools (included in 40. 

Specify different schools) 

44. Annual cost of education per pupil (sum of Nos. 12 and 
13 divided by 40) on the total enrollment, $18.10, 
and on the average daily attendance, $20.14. 



STATISTICS FOR 19OO-19OI 



Males 



Females 



Totals 



Number white persons in the district be- 
tween 6 and 20 years of age . . . 
Number colored persons in the district 

between 6 and 20 years of age . . 

Total white and colored .... 

Number white children who attended 

public school during the year . . . 
Number colored children who attended 

public school during the year . . . 

Total enrollment during the year . 

Increase over the previous year in 

Kansas City 

Total number days attended by all 

children 

Average number days attended by each 

child on the enrollment 

Number days school has been taught . 
Average number pupils attending school 

each day 

Total number in school under 16 years 

of age 

Number white pupils under 16 years of 

age 

Number colored pupils under 16 years 

of age 

Total number of pupils in school over 16 

years of age 

Number white pupils over 16 years of 

age 

Number colored pupils over 16 years of 

age 

Total enrollment 



28,283 

2,686 
30,969 

12,036 

1,327 
13,363 

279 



12,492 

11,267 

1,225 

871 

767 

104 



28,163 

2,617 

30,780 

13,319 

i,S98 
i4,9!7 

448 



13,400 

11,984 

1,416 

i,5i7 

1,335 

182 



56,446 

5,303 
61,749 

25,355 

2,925 
28,280 

727 
3,778,920 

133 
180 

20,994 

25,892 

23,251 

2,641 

2,388 



286 
28,280 



TABLES AND FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS 



"3 



Salaries paid male teachers, per month $10,239 

Salaries paid female teachers, per month 35>i°5 

Average salary paid male teachers, per month .... 126 

Average salary paid female teachers, per month .... 67 

Salary paid 30 substitutes, $20 per month 600 

Number male teachers, white, 66; colored, 17; total . . 83 

Number female teachers, white, 479; colored, 45; total . 524 

Total white and colored 607 

Number substitutes, white, 29 ; colored, 1 ; total ... 30 

Total number teachers and substitutes 637 

A table from the Erie report summarizes certain main 
facts over a long series of years: 



Table 108. Erie 

COMPARATIVE STATISTICS: YEAR ENDING FIRST 
MONDAY IN JUNE 



Year 


Assessment of 
City 


School 
Millage 


Receipts 


Expenditures 


Total 


Increase * 
Decrease t 


Total 


Increase * 
Decrease t 


1871 .... 

1872 .... 

1873 .... 

1874 .... 


$1,967,020 
15,392,857 
15,400,306 
15,748,596 


25 
4 

4 
5 


$53,54o 
62,552 
64,274 
86,634 


$9,012 * 

1,721 * 

22,360* 


$55,764 
64,232 
61,132 
76,320 


$8,468 * 

3>ioof 

15,187* 



Year 


Number of 
Teachers 


Average Sala- 
ries per Month 


Enrollment of 
Pupils 


Population 




Male 


Female 


Male 


Female 


Male 


Female 




1871 .... 














19,646 


1872 .... 


11 


51 


$64 


$39 


1,906 


1.594 




1873 .... 


8 


62 


82 


40 


1,889 


1,663 




1874 .... 


8 


62 


82 


40 


1,889 


1,663 





Similarly the Grand Rapids report gives statistics sum- 
marized for a series of years, and in considerable detail: 



H4 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 



Table 109. Grand Rapids 



GENERAL STATISTICS 



Years 



Population of city based on school census . . 

Number enumerated in school census (5 to 20 
years) . . . 

Estimated number in schools not public . . . 

Whole number of different pupils enrolled . . 

Average number of pupils belonging .... 

Average daily attendance 

Per cent of whole number enrolled on number 
enumerated* 

Per cent of average number belonging on number 
enumerated* 

Per cent of daily attendance on number enrolled 

Per cent of daily attendance on number belonging 

Number of teachers (June) 

Number of pupils to a teacher, based on number 
belonging 

Cost per capita for superintendence and instruc- 
tion 

Cost per capita for incidentals 

Total cost per capita for education 

Number of non-resident pupils 



42,119 

12,218 
1,100 

7,925 
6,042 

5,667 
66 

5° 

7i 

94 

167 

35 

13-27 

13-57 

26.84 

180 



44,329 

",775 
1,290 
8,250 
6,323 
5,966 

67 

41 

72 

94 

182 

35 

14.02 
9-35 

23-37 
138 



48,810 

14,066 
1,788 

8,539 
6,438 
6,045 

66 

5° 
70 

94 

195 

84 

15.06 

4.87 

16.93 

156 



The St. Louis report, in brief space, summarizes the main 
facts of attendance and expenditures for each individual 
school : 



* Percentage based on school census of the preceding year. 



TABLES AND FACTS IN CITY SCHOOL REPORTS 115 
Table iio. St. Louis 

SHOWING ENROLLMENT IN THE DAY SCHOOLS, AVER- 
AGE ATTENDANCE OF PUPILS, AVERAGE NUMBER 
OF TEACHERS, AND COST OF THE SCHOOLS FOR 
THE YEAR 1904-1905 





Whole No. enrolled 
exclusive of dupli- 




H 


■6 

a 


-0 

d 


ft 

3 u 

Ph u 




CATE 


Registration 


la 

"S 
3 
Q 


u 

.0 
6 
3 

°.S 
2d 

CJ 

< 


< 

>, 

73 

O 

< 


< 

a 

53 a 

Ph 


Names of Schools 


>> 



m 


3 


73 

H 


O | 

ft 

U 

M cc) 

CO CJ 
CD O 

> **' 

<1 






62 


62 




61 


60 


98 


28 


Central High 


705 


1,326 


2,031 


16 


1.530 


1,469 


96 


21 


McKinley High 


446 


739 


1,185 


7 


918 


890 


97 


23 


Yeatman High 


297 


512 


809 


4 


603 


559 


93 


20 


Sumner High (colored) . . . 


97 


272 


369 




299 


291 


96 


29 


Total High Schools . . . 


1. 545 


2,849 


4-394 


27 


3,350 


3,209 


96 


23 




714 


788 


1,502 


87 


1,186 


1,105 


93 


49 




102 


112 


214 


26 


185 


172 


93 


37 





"o 




is 




73 <u ho 

a > d 






Names of Schools 


CD 

a 

3 

|7[ ,r 


Amount of 


=" 9 
o_o 

-3'aS 

ftpH 

3 . 


73 
•a 


8<-3 

■n 9 ° 
d°13 

H S ffl 


Total 

Cost of 

Teachers' 


*6 
S3* 




cj-d 


Salaries 


^ 


a 


ft . 

*H 3 

°Ph& 
Jh CD 


Salaries 
and Inci- 


O c3 M 




cd cd 




O <D 


o«< 


dentals 


— •< So 
rf a 9 
o-2 




< 




O 





O 




H 


Teachers' College .... 


I 
81 


$1,948 


$31 






$1,948 


$31 


Central High 


$110,165 


$72 


$19,338 


$12 


$129,504 


$84 




44 


52,914 


57 


22,300 


24 


75,215 


81 




34 


39,005 


64 


27,884 


46 


66,890 


no 


Sumner High (colored) . . . 


13 


13,721 


45 


4,444 


14 


18,166 


60 


Total High Schools . . 


172 
28 


$215,807 


$64 


$73,968 


$22 


$289,775 


$86 




$19,586 


$16 


$3,607 


$3 


$23,194 


$19 




6 


3,478 


iS 


1,876 


10 


5.355 


28 



CHAPTER V 

Important Questions not answered by Existing 
Reports 

In the foregoing chapter we have displayed the forms of 
statistical presentation used in some of the best reports. 
These present in detail, and often with considerable effective- 
ness, the main facts of educational administration. They 
supply in a readily intelligible form some of the school facts 
that an inquiring man might seek. But it will be noted 
that, whilst these various tables taken together seem thus 
effective as a means of true publicity, it is also true that no 
one report exhibits all of the good features illustrated. In 
some one respect the report from city A may be unexcelled; 
in others, city B may show much better results. An ex- 
amination of over one hundred reports of city schools makes 
it evident that comparatively few rise to any considerable 
height of excellence in statistical reporting. Many of them 
give their tables in long and cumbrous form with needless 
repetitions. Especially do they fail in bringing into jux- 
taposition the totals, averages, or other final statements 
that would render them effective from the standpoint of pub- 
licity. The systems of classification used are often illogical 
and clumsy, though this is far less true in reporting facts of 
finance than of school work and children dealt with. Reduc- 
tions to some unit basis are not frequent enough, and when 
given are not such as to make comparison easy between 
different members or parts of the school system, or between 
different years. Few successful forms are used for the 
purpose of instituting comparison among different schools, 

116 



IMPORTANT QUESTIONS UNANSWERED BY REPORTS 1 17 

except in matters of finance. In only one or two reports are 
tables given that suggest a measure of relationship between 
two different classes of fact. 

It has been seen that much statistical work can be criti- 
cised on the ground that it is not effective, that it does not 
convey information useful either in direct administration 
or in the indirect administrative field of publicity. It is 
also true that much of the making of records and reports 
which prevails to-day is not economical, in that it consumes 
a disproportionate amount of time and energy, not merely 
with reference to the uses to which the product is finally 
put, but also with reference to what would be the require- 
ments of such recording and collecting of data under more 
effective systems. 

In compiling school statistics the following elements are 
vital : 

a. Such classification of original records, entries, etc., 
as will give them a maximum uniformity of value (despite 
the personality of the recording officers) and facilitate sig- 
nificant summarization. For example, tables of age, scholar- 
ship, truancy, etc., often present confusing diversity in this 
regard. In matters of finance and day school attendance, 
the items are usually better classified, and the character of 
the original data is somewhat more certain. 

b. Reduction of data (for different rooms, grades, schools, 
or years, etc.) to a common denominator, for purposes of 
comparison. This is accomplished by the devices of per 
capita statements, per cents, and by graphical representations. 

c. Bringing into juxtaposition, as far as possible, all the 
totals or unit statements that will tend to group the largest 
possible amount of information around some of the large 
facts of administration. For example, the facts of enroll- 
ment, average attendance, number of census children, 
number of sittings, number of vacant sittings by grades, 
number of truancies, etc., are all related, but are seldom 



Il8 EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 

shown together. Or, in regard to teachers, items that are 
frequently scattered might be so placed as to admit of ready 
comparison, — facts of number, grade of certificate, years of 
experience, training, salaries, etc. 

d. Such interpretation of statistics (by means of totals, 
averages, per capita statements, double classification tables, 
diagrams, etc., as well as explanatory interpretation) as 
will aid the busy but interested citizen to deduce the con- 
clusions and facts of administrative significance that are 
involved. Statistics so arranged that these conclusions 
constantly point back to the statistical presentations from 
which they are derived, constitute a satisfactory basis for 
true publicity as well as for administrative action. 

If we assume that school statistics, in the interests of 
efficiency, should give fairly definite answers to questions 
arising in administrative practice or from need of publicity, 
and if we assume that such questions might and should 
legitimately take the following form, we find that some 
questions are already answered in most reports, that others 
are occasionally answered, and that others are never an- 
swered. The reader may profitably compare the tables 
given in the foregoing chapter with the significant questions 
in his own mind. The list of questions here given is by 
no means exhaustive, but serves to illustrate and summarize 
present practice. 

QUESTIONS AS TO PLANT 

Generally Answered 

What school buildings are owned by the city? 
What land, leased or used otherwise than for school purposes, is 
owned by the city for the benefit of its educational system? 
*What is the kind of heating and ventilating apparatus employed? 
Seldom Answered 

*What is the condition of the buildings? 

* Questions not answered in the Report for the Schools of New York 
City for the school year ending July 31, 1906. See Chapter VII. 



IMPORTANT QUESTIONS UNANSWERED BY REPORTS 119 

♦What is their estimated value? 
What is the number of rooms or sittings provided? 
What provision is under way for congested districts? 
Which buildings are without kindergartens? 
Which are without kitchens and workshops for older pupils? 
Never Answered 

*What is the relation of the accommodations provided by the build- 
ings of various districts to the number of children of school age 
in the district, or to the number of children applying for ad- 
mission? 

*How do the sittings provided compare, per district, per school, or 
per grade, in point of number with the children of various ages 
who are expected to use them? 

*What is the number of vacant sittings, and to what ages of children 
do they correspond? 

*What is the estimated value or original cost of buildings per unit 
(or per sitting, or per cubic foot) ? 

*In buildings of special type, — such as manual training, high schools, 
science laboratories in ordinary buildings, manual training 
rooms, gymnasiums, etc., — what has been the cost of equip- 
ment per unit — sitting, etc. ? 

*What buildings have become unsanitary or otherwise unsuitable for 
school purposes? 

*What buildings are without the newer appliances, such as adjustable 
desks, automatic ventilation, economical furnaces? 

*Which are without shower baths, roof gardens, assembly rooms> 
gymnasiums, physician's room? 

QUESTIONS AS TO RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES 

Occasionally Answered 

What has been the annual cost for a series of years of the school 

system as a whole? 
What has been the total amount expended for such items as salaries, 

administration, fuel, building, repairs? 
What has been the per capita expenditure, expressed in terms of 
average enrollment, or average daily attendance? 
Seldom Answered 

*What do the different classes of educational institution — ele- 
mentary schools, high schools, evening schools, etc. — cost ? 
*What has been the cost of the system over a series of years, by 
division of items? 



120 EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 

*What is the cost of the system by individual schools? 

*How does the per capita cost compare over a series of years? 

*What is the relative per capita cost of different classes of school, 

as high, elementary, evening? 
*As among different schools, what is the relative per cent of cost of 

salaries, fuel, supplies, etc.? 
Never Answered 

*How does the amount expended on individual schools compare over 

a series of years, totals or per capita ? 
*By individual schools, what is the annual cost of fuel, supplies, etc., 

each reduced to some unit as per capita of attendance, sitting, 

class ? 
*What is the cost of medical inspection, and what for each unit of 

work? 
*What is the cost of evening school per unit of attendance or per 

child attending twenty nights (the average nightly attendance 

being a most uncertain unit for this purpose) ? 
*What is the cost of high school or elementary education, or of its 

special factors? 
*What is the cost of special subjects per pupil benefited? 
*How does district compare with district? 
*What part of last year's disbursements was for the preceding year 

or the year to come? 
*What goods or service were used last year and not paid for and not 

counted in cost? 

QUESTIONS AS TO CHILDREN TO BE EDUCATED 

Occasionally Answered 

*How many children does the school census show ? (Answered for 
ages 5 to 21 or other ages, which frequently bear little rela- 
tion to the ages at which children regularly attend school. ) 
*What is the relative number of children of school age of each sex? 
Seldom Answered 

*What are the numbers of children of each year of age in the city? 
*What is the number of children by ages, or within the ages of com- 
pulsory attendance, in each district? 
*By districts, how does the number of children of compulsory school 
age compare with the number in attendance on the public 
schools ? 
*0f the children not in attendance on the public schools, how many 



IMPORTANT QUESTIONS UNANSWERED BY REPORTS 121 

are at private schools, in public or private institutions, hos- 
pitals, or otherwise satisfactorily accounted for? 
Never Answered 

*Where was child born? 

*Of the children recorded as attending school, how many are making 
only a nominal attendance? 

*Of those not attending, or attending only a short time, how many 
are physically incapacitated, and how? 

*What is the character of the parochial school attendance? 

*Of children at work and subject to census enumeration, what is the 
character of the employment? Are they working in factory, 
store, office, home? In what number of cases is the working 
illegal ? 

*How do seats provided and attendance compare with census of 
children of 4-5 (kindergarten age), 6-7 (permitted to attend), 
8-13 (compelled to attend), 14-15 (permitted to work if satis- 
factory evidence of education is given) ? 

QUESTIONS AS TO CHILDREN ENROLLED AND 
ATTENDING 

Occasionally Answered 

What is the total enrollment? the average enrollment? the average 

daily attendance? 
What is the percentage of average daily attendance on average 
enrollment? (It may be pointed out that the items "total 
enrollment" and "average daily attendance" are usually com- 
puted in the same way; while there is a lack of uniformity in 
the method of computing the quantity "average enrollment." 
Some schools drop a child if absent three days, others carry on 
the roll for two weeks or more.) 
Seldom Answered 

What is the attendance, etc., by individual schools? 
*What is the amount of persistent attendance, i.e. the number of 
children who make attendances of 180 or more days out of a 
possible 200, 160 days out of 200, etc.? 
*What has been the character of the absence of children, i.e. of those 
who have been absent a given time, how much of the absence 
has been for short periods at frequent intervals, and how much 
for a few long periods? 
*Is attendance by grades or by ages regular and persistent? 



122 EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 

*What is the character of attendance in the case of part-time pupils? 
*What is the distributed attendance in evening schools, i.e. how many 

attended 20 nights, 30, 40, etc. ? What was the attendance per 

teacher? per subject? 
Never Answered 

*What is the relation of attendance to health conditions? 
*What is the relation of attendance to scholarship? 
*What is the effect of adopting measures to improve attendance? 
*What is the connection between attendance and overcrowding? what 

is the part-time attendance? 
*What are the causes of non-attendance? of dropping out? 
*What proportion of children who should have finished the elementary 

and grammar grades fail to finish? 

QUESTIONS AS TO DESCRIPTION OF CHILDREN 
ATTENDING 

Occasionally Answered 

*What is the relative number of each sex enrolled? 
What is the relative number of each sex on average register? in 

average attendance? 
How many children are in each grade of the schools? 
How many children by given years of age? 
*In high schools, evening schools, etc., what is the number of children 
in each of the various subjects? 
Seldom Answered 

What is the relation between age and grade of the pupils enrolled? 

If we assume a certain normal age for each grade, what number 

and what percentage of children in each case are ahead or 

behind this normal age, or, as sometimes stated, how many 

over-age and under-age children are there? 

*What number of children drop out of the various grades each year, 

or during the vacation periods? 
*Of those who drop out, what number go to other schools? What 
number go to work? What number of withdrawals are un- 
explained ? 
*Of those who drop out, what are the typical scholarship records? 
*What is the relation between non-promotion and withdrawal from 

school ? 
*What is the relation between over-age and dropping out? 
*Is a connection shown between irregular attendance and final 
withdrawal? 



IMPORTANT QUESTIONS UNANSWERED BY REPORTS 123 

QUESTIONS AS TO SCHOOL WORK 

Occasionally Answered 

Of children attending, what number are promoted, and in what 
grades ? 
*What number in each grade (or school) are not promoted? 
What is the number of graduates from the eighth grade? What 
relation does this bear to the number in the grade? *to the 
number who were on the seventh grade last year? *in the sixth 
the year before? 
Seldom Answered 

What is the number of promotions, or proportion of promotions, to 
the number that should have been eligible to promotion had 
scholarship, attendance, etc., been satisfactory? 
*What are the characteristic facts regarding the cases of non-pro- 
motion, i.e. how do they classify under such heads as failure 
owing to illness, irregular attendance, lack of ability, etc.? 
*Over a series of years, how many are the cases of pupils who have 
failed of promotion two successive years, or have failed of 
promotion more than once, and what, again, are the character - 
• istics of these cases? (It will be observed that the satisfactory 
control of the organization and administration of special or 
ungraded classes will depend on this information.) 
*How do schools that employ flexible grading compare with those 
which promote yearly or half-yearly in percentage of promo- 
tions and in percentage of survival? 
*Do high schools that promote by grade show a higher "mortality," 
i.e a higher percentage of "dropping out" than high schools 
that promote by subject? 
*What evidence is there that school training has prepared children 
for industrial efficiency? 

QUESTIONS AS TO COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE AND 

TRUANCY 

Occasionally Answered 

How many truant officers are there? 

What number of attendance cases have been investigated? 

What has been the number of cases of truancy, and what has been 

the work of the department with them? 
*What is the total cost of administering the compulsory attendance 

department : by divisions of expense, officers, supervision, etc. ? 



124 EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 

Seldom Answered 

*What is the actual number of children who should have been in 
school who have not attended? 

*What number have attended so short a time as to fail of educational 
profit? 

*Of those who have not attended, or have attended so short a time 
as to derive no profit, how many have been illegally employed? 
How many have been truant? How many have been phys- 
ically incapacitated for attendance? 

*Of the truants, what were the classes as regards physical condition, 
economic condition, scholarship condition, ages, grades, etc.? 

*What results has the truancy department accomplished toward the 
cure of truancy? 

*Where special truant schools exist, what quantitative contribution 
do they make to the education of the groups with which they 
deal? 

*What is the cost of the department of compulsory education in 
terms of some unit of results, such as children permanently 
restored to school, etc.? 

*How many truant officers are needed to attend promptly to non- 
attendants? 

*What is done with children who move out of the school district? Is 
a tracer or a notice sent to the school officers of the new district 
to which the child was moved? 
What efforts have been made to compel parents to enforce attend- 
ance by their children? 

QUESTIONS AS TO SPECIAL CLASSES 

Usually Answered (if special classes exist) 
How many children are specially treated? 
*What is the number (of each description) of special classes? 
What kind of pupils are treated in special classes, as regards scholar- 
ship, *behavior, physical condition, etc. ? 
What is the age and *grade of those dealt with in special classes? 
*What is the character of attendance and application? 
*What are the facts regarding the size of classes, number who are 

not admitted for lack of room, etc.? 
*What is the duration of attendance on special classes? 
*What is the effect of the attendance on special classes in terms of 
subsequent attendance, scholarship, grading, behavior, etc. ? 



IMPORTANT QUESTIONS UNANSWERED BY REPORTS 125 

♦What is the total cost of special class work: per class, per child 
benefited ? 

♦What are the educational qualifications of the teachers carrying on 
special class work? 

♦What is the effect upon attendance and progress of normal children 
when the "special problem" child is segregated? 

♦Does the special class save expense in treating the normal child as 
well as in treating the special child? 

♦What lessons applicable to regular classes are learned from indi- 
vidualization necessary in special classes? 

♦Do special classes appreciably reduce commitments for truancy and 
for juvenile delinquency? 

QUESTIONS AS TO EVENING SCHOOLS 

Occasionally Answered 

How many evening schools, and what their enrollment and average 

attendance? 
♦What is the cost of evening school work, in totals and per capita of 

average attendance? 
Seldom Answered 

♦What is the attendance, distributed into groups so that one may 

learn how many of the students have from 90 to 100 evenings 

attendance out of a possible 100? 
♦What is the distributed age and scholarship record of those attend- 
ing, per subject? 
♦What is the cost of evening school education in terms of actual 

attendance and work done, or in terms of each evening of 

attendance ? 
What are the salaries and ♦qualifications of teachers? 
♦How many teach in both day and night school? Are they as efficient 

as those who teach only one session? 
♦How many pupils attend two or more seasons? How many earn 

certificates ? 
♦Do boys of 14 and 15 who work by day profit enough from night 

school to justify the extra drain upon their physical strength? 

Are truancy, irregular attendance, and early falling out higher 

in this class than among older and stronger pupils ? 
♦What are the effects upon the eyes of night study in badly lighted 

rooms ? 



126 EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 

QUESTIONS AS TO VACATION SCHOOLS AND 
PLAYGROUNDS 

Occasionally Answered 

What has been the total enrollment? 
What has been the length of session? 

*What is the total cost of vacation school and playground? What the 
per capita cost based on average attendance? 
Never Answered 

*What is the character of the attendance, distributed as to duration 

or persistency, classes of children, kinds of work taken, etc. ? 
*What are the results of such attendance? 
*How many more vacation schools are needed? 
*What would it cost to give all children in the city the privileges now 
confined to a few? 

QUESTIONS AS TO MEDICAL INSPECTION 

Occasionally Answered 

*How many medical inspectors and nurses were employed? 
How many inspections were made? 

How many exclusions were made on account of communicable 
diseases? 
Seldom Answered 

*What is the cost of medical inspection, expressed either in totals 

or in terms of units of work done, etc. ? 
*What is the number and distribution of the force connected with 

medical inspection? 
*In case of inspection and nursing connected with chronic defects, 
what is the cost per unit of work done (which, of course, might 
be in terms of each child treated, or in terms of class or room 
or ioo children from which treated cases are taken)? 
How many visits were made by physicians or nurses at the homes of 
school children? 

Never Answered 

*What proportion of children need medical care? 

*What proportion of children backward in studies or over-age owe 

this condition to physical defect? 
*How many homes were visited? 
*How many schools and how many children have only the cursory 

inspection to detect communicable disease, without the thorough 



IMPORTANT QUESTIONS UNANSWERED BY REPORTS 127 

medical examination for adenoids, enlarged tonsils, defective 
eyesight, and hearing? 

*What "follow up" methods are employed to see that physical de- 
fects arc corrected? What are the results? 

♦What effort is made to teach mothers to care for children's heads 
and bodies so as to prevent head lice, itch, etc. ? 

*What is the effect upon school progress of removing physical de- 
fects ? 

*How many physicians and how many nurses are needed to do 
thoroughly for all children in all schools what is being done for 
a few children in a few schools? How much would their work 
cost? How much would they save? 

*What is the effect of inspection, examination, and home visiting 
upon prevalence of communicable disease? 

*Do family physicians and dispensaries cooperate? 

*What evidence is there that teachers appreciate that prompt atten- 
tion to children's physical defects will decrease waste of pupils' 
and teachers' time and of taxpayers' money? 

*How does the work done by school nurses and physicians responsible 
to the health authorities compare in quantity and quality with 
work done elsewhere or in former years by school nurses and 
physicians responsible to the school authorities? 



CHAPTER VI 

Suggested Economies and Improvements for School 

Reports 

The foregoing list of topics upon which information 
might be presented in school reports by statistical and other 
means represents information that school boards should 
possess currently and publish periodically rather than in- 
formation that should be included in each yearly report. 
For reasons of economy it might be impracticable and un- 
desirable to take them all up at any one time, or even, in 
some places, at all. There are certain principles of economy 
that may well be observed in preparing reports, some of 
which are suggested by a study of existing reports. 

The first principle to be observed is that only such data 
shall be collected and such reports prepared as will tend 
to answer, either now or in the future, questions bearing 
on educational efficiency, and serve the purposes of school 
administration, either directly or through the indirect means 
of publicity. Wherever considerable labor is required to 
assemble or interpret statistics, it is wise to keep this cri- 
terion in mind. For example, in some systems it is customary 
to preserve and tabulate information regarding occupations 
and nationalities of parents of children in the schools. In 
the case of special schools, — as, e.g., high schools, vacation 
schools, evening schools, and the like, — it is probable that 
this information would, if properly interpreted, have a 
distinct bearing on administrative efficiency; but in the 
ordinary elementary school, supposedly working under com- 
pulsory education laws, detailed information regarding nation- 
ality and occupations of parents can hardly serve any useful 
purpose. Furthermore, in the case of those types of edu- 

128 



SUGGESTED ECONOMIES AND IMPROVEMENTS 129 

cation for which it seems desirable to collect the above species 
of information, one may doubt if any valuable purpose is 
served by collecting and publishing it yearly. An exhibition 
at intervals of three or five years, at least as far as publica- 
tion is concerned, will serve every necessary purpose. 

Again, it is evident that in a small system the annual 
publication of itemized expenditures may serve a useful 
purpose; such publication in a large city would in no way 
minister to actual publicity. Of course the system of book- 
keeping for the city will preserve these items in their detailed 
form, but owing to the complexity of the situation presented, 
their publication, except in significant summaries, will hardly 
tend to true publicity. 

In general it may be said that there is needed in each city 
system a careful study of the conditions under which edu- 
cational data should be collected and published. That 
which is desirable for the large city may be quite unnecessary 
in the small city; and that which is practicable to present 
in an extended form in the small city must be very much 
digested and interpreted in the large. The standards of 
selection must be determined: first, by the administrative 
problems upon which the collecting and arranging of facts 
will tend to shed light and by the degree of publicity which 
it is the right of the intelligent citizen to demand in a system 
of public administration; and, second, by the limits of 
energy and means available among teachers and others 
responsible for such collecting and interpreting of statistics. 
If the United States commissioner would institute such a sci- 
entific study of the reporting required by the school interests 
of large and small cities, the results would be prompt and vast. 

The second principle of economy depends upon the 
conditions under which the primary data of statistics are 
collected. By primary data is here meant facts collected 
and assembled by those workers in immediate contact with 
the facts which enter into statistical presentations. The 



130 EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 

primary data for financial statistics originate with those 
who handle bills, receive vouchers, and make original entries. 
In the count of children the original data are supplied by 
the census taker. The teacher is the source of original 
data regarding facts of attendance, grade, age, scholarship, 
deportment, and final disposition of the children who attend 
school. The attendance officer provides original data re- 
garding the special facts in connection with the limited 
number of children who come under his attention. Simi- 
larly, the school physician or other medical inspector pro- 
vides original data regarding health. The principal of the 
school provides primary data as to attendance of teachers, 
suspension of pupils, and many other facts, while some 
primary data regarding teachers — grade of certificate, sal- 
ary, age, place of education, teaching ability, etc. — originate 
in the superintendent's office. 

Recent business progress in America has clearly demon- 
strated that there may be a scientific treatment of the con- 
ditions under which primary data are obtained, with a view 
to economy as well as to efficiency. Many of the registers 
and other blanks on which teachers now make primary 
records are cumbersome and wasteful of time. An example 
is found in the daily register which may be made to contain 
all records of the pupil except those of scholarship. As 
frequently provided, it requires that the names of all pupils 
shall be written anew each month. But there are forms 
available in which it is necessary to write the names of pupils 
but once in the term or year, and by a system of indented 
leaves all records are made automatically to stand opposite 
the name and other facts which thus are entered but once. 

In such a register, having all entries of attendance on 
one line, summarization of attendance, etc. — not merely 
by months, but by the year as well — is obviously a simple 
process. Suppose that for administrative reasons it is 
desirable to present a record of attendance, not in terms of 



SUGGESTED ECONOMIES AND IMPROVEMENTS 



J 3* 



the average of daily attendance, but in such a way that the 
citizen or others concerned can learn what proportion of 
the children are making attendances of a given number of 
days in the year. If the teacher be furnished a blank like 
the following, it will be a matter of but a few minutes' counting 
to obtain the necessary information from the register, and 
it will take the principal or superintendent's office a very 
short time to add these preliminary totals and so arrive at 
a distributed table of school attendance, a fact that is far 
more significant in day schools as well as evening schools 
and vacation schools than the mere average of attendance. 

Table hi 

SHOWING NUMBER OF PUPILS MAKING GIVEN 
NUMBERS OF DAYS' ATTENDANCE 

















>> 


5» 














rt 


a 






>. 


c? 






Q 


Q 




p 


Q 





Q 


P 


o\ 


o. 




Ov 


o. 


o> 


o> 


Ov 










CO 


li^ 


*^ 


o. 


o 


3, 






o 


o 


o 


■2, 
























v$* 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o 






r-O" 




«fr 


•o 


00 








B 


a 


a 


a 


a 


a 


a 




o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o 


o 








u 






u 


M 




£ 


Pn 


Pn 


tn 


En 


fi 


fe 


First Grade . . . 
















Second Grade . . 

















Similarly, if it seems desirable to make an exhibit of 
school attendance by the months of the year, — in order 
to demonstrate conditions of falling out, going to work, 
increase of population during certain months, or other facts, 
— such a table can almost instantly be compiled from the 
right type of register. 

The advantage of having a card record so arranged that 
annual records of significant facts can be compiled from 
the register, and preserved for the individual pupil for 
several years, will be discussed later. At present it is so 
seldom employed that it is practically impossible for any 



132 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 



city to provide statistical records of individual groups of 
pupils extending over a series of years. If such cards were 
employed, it would then be possible for the teacher to provide 
much of the following information more conveniently than 
from the register, though in a properly arranged register 
this can be done with a moderate outlay of time and energy. 
The following are some of the types of information that can 
be easily provided: age groups, by a given grade; scholar- 
ship groups; character of school absenteeism by groups 
and by alleged causes, etc. More important is it to observe 
that the teacher, with the original data easily at hand, can, 
on convenient blanks, check off in a few minutes the sched- 
ules of related facts which may be presented in tables of 
double classification or double distribution. Few cities, for 
example, present the double distribution tables of age and 
grade which show progressively how the children in a given 
city stand with reference to these two sets of facts. In order 
to obtain such a table it is obvious that the teacher or other 
person having primary individual records must check these 
off individually in a blank like the following, the combined 
records of each pupil determining the square in which the 
count must be made : 



Table 112 

SHOWING DISTRIBUTION OF PUPILS IN EACH GRADE 
BY AGES, RECORDS OF AGES BEING MADE (insert date) 





First Grade 


Second Grade 


Totals 




Males 


Females 


Males 


Females 


Males 


Females 


From s years 6 months to 
6 years 6 months 


**x 


ii 


Etc. 








Sub-totals .... 


6 


2 










From 6 years 6 months to 
7 years 6 months 


in 


TfSi. I 










Sub-totals .... 


3 


6 










Totals 















SUGGESTED ECONOMIES AND IMPROVEMENTS 133 

These double-distribution or double-classification tables, 
— especially when the totals are reduced to a common 
denominator by percentages or otherwise (which need not 
be done by the person having control of primary records), — 
are of great value in disclosing facts of proportion and 
relationship that cannot be suggested otherwise. In the 
same way relationships can be exhibited between such sets 
of facts as: attendance and scholarship, scholarship and 
over-age (number of years pupil is above normal or median 
age for his grade), non-promotion and attendance, attendance 
and nationality or occupation of parents, etc., and (if we 
had better classification) the relationships between health 
groups and attendance groups, between health and scholar- 
ship, between health and moral character, scholarship and 
moral character, etc. 

With satisfactory original records the possibilities of 
discovering many important facts is great in these directions. 
A few further examples will illustrate this. Many reports 
of evening schools, for example, give distributed tables of 
attendance, since it is quite generally recognized that the 
average as a statement of attendance here is quite worthless. 
Also many give distributed tables of the ages of those at- 
tending, since it is matter not merely of interest, but of 
administrative control to know the age character of evening 
school attendance. But only in the rarest instances are 
these two sets of facts given in the form of double-distribu- 
tion tables which would tend to show far more than the 
two tables presented separately. Yet with satisfactory 
original entries and the provision of a blank like the follow- 
ing, it would be an easy matter to present the entire range 
of facts. 



134 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 



Table 113 



SHOWING RELATED DISTRIBUTIONS OF AGES OF STU- 
DENTS AND ATTENDANCES MADE IN THE EVENING 
HIGH SCHOOL 



Age of Students 


Attendance of 

from i to 20 

Evenings 


Attendance of 

from 21 to 40 

Evenings 


Attendance of 

from 41 to 60 

Evenings 


Totals 


From 14 years 6 months to 
1 6 years 6 months 


mi 


J-stj 1 


Etc. 




Sub-totals .... 


4 


6 






From 16 years 6 months to 
1 8 years 6 months 


II 


^ 


Etc. 




Sub-totals .... 


2 


10 








Etc. 








Totals 











From such a table (and only from such a source) can we 
discover the relation between the age of evening school 
students and their persistency of attendance, relation which 
is surely most important in determining the kind of courses 
and other facilities which should be provided. 

There are minor facts which, by being made matters of 
primary record in the register, might ultimately tend to 
show facts of importance in administration. An instance 
of this is found in the relation between persistency of attend- 
ance and the distance at which the child lives from school. 
If, in one column of the register, this distance were recorded 
at the beginning of the year, at the close it would be practic- 
able, in a few minutes, to transfer the appropriate facts to 
a blank containing a horizontal distribution of groups of 
days attended and a vertical distribution of distances at 
which children came to school; thus the facts recorded 
could be interpreted at leisure. Other instances of possible 
double classification will be discussed later. 

The third principle of economy relates to the publication 
of statistical tables in school reports. It has become custom- 



SUGGESTED ECONOMIES AND IMPROVEMENTS 135 

ary to issue reports each year, and to have each number 
contain full statistical presentations along all lines. But 
for purposes of administrative control, or for the kind of 
publicity that should be sought, it is not at all necessary that 
the publication of all sorts of tables should be annually 
repeated. For some types of information, biennial or 
triennial publication would suffice. There are other types 
of statistics which, if well presented once in five years, with 
columns provided for comparative purposes extending over 
the years intervening since the last publication, would serve 
every purpose. In still other cases, and especially in the 
case of somewhat extended studies of relationship as shown 
by statistical presentations, more or less frequent publica- 
tion would certainly serve every purpose. For the sake of 
clearness, it would be desirable in each report to publish 
a schedule showing when detailed tables have been pre- 
sented or when they may again be expected, so that the 
interested investigator could refer to previous or forth- 
coming issues of the report for information not contained 
in the last number. But in general there is no inherent 
reason why every year's report should contain in printed 
form all available statistics, provided there be some 
effective guarantee that such information will be available 
at regular intervals, and that the school officials have before 
them for current administrative use the information contained 
in these tables. 

The foregoing considerations are based on an examina- 
tion of city school reports as they are now found. The 
methods and procedures given have, within limits, been 
tested experimentally, and most of them have proved of 
statistical utility. Any suggestions and steps beyond these 
must be regarded as tentative, since only experience can 
demonstrate the practicability of new devices. In other 
fields of social economy administrative control and publicity 
have been secured through devices that have not yet been 



136 EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 

applied to educational statistics. The United States De- 
partment of Labor, as well as the Bureau of Immigration, 
has developed means of interpreting statistics that are not 
found in other reports of the national government. Certain 
means adopted in the twelfth census exceed in excellence 
the corresponding means found in educational reports. 
The annual reports of some of the large philanthropic organi- 
zations, like the New York Association for Improving the 
Condition of the Poor, the Charity Organization Society, 
and the United Hebrew Charities of New York City, exhibit 
certain features of statistical presentation that might well 
be imitated by educational officers. In the reports of the 
state boards of charity and correction for Indiana and Ohio 
we find certain tables showing expenditures for a variety 
of public institutions. These tables represent in the highest 
degree the advantages that accrue from publicity by means 
of statistics. Presented in such a way as to foster com- 
parison (not only by totals, but by per capita expenditures) 
of the expenses of the institutions by years, the citizen and 
the interested legislator have available the best possible 
checks on extravagance and maladministration. In very 
little of our public work is the excellent principle of publicity 
pushed so far. 

In the field of financial administration it is hardly in place 
here to go beyond the suggestion that the business world 
has worked out methods by which records and accounts 
can be made to answer any and every question that may 
be in the mind of an administrative officer. Enterprising 
banks, railroads, insurance companies, department stores, 
factories, would not think of conducting their business 
with the inefficient methods of bookkeeping that still obtain 
in school work. As has been stated elsewhere, we find 
in promoting school welfare as in promoting the welfare 
of other city departments or in strengthening branches of 
business enterprise, the clear financial statement is one of 



SUGGESTED ECONOMIES AND IMPROVEMENTS 137 

the best means of obtaining increased financial support. 
Any method of accounting that conceals inefficiency in 
financial management will conceal also financial need of 
a school system. Any Board of Education that cares to 
obtain increased financial support and to arrive at better 
standards of educational bookkeeping can find experts 
capable of devising methods of relating educational work 
to cost adapted to the particular schools in question. If 
in doubt or if living in communities where the profession 
of accounting is not yet developed, directors would do well 
to address inquiries to the New York School of Philan- 
thropy, which will be permanently in position to make 
helpful suggestions. 

A conspicuous defect of most financial statements in school 
reports is their failure to present expenditure in terms of some 
common denominator to the end that the average reader may 
make easy comparison among different schools, or articles 
of supply, or over a series of years. As has been already 
indicated, no statement of fuel consumption can be finally 
satisfactory that is presented merely in totals distributed 
among various schools. Such totals do not in any way point 
to wasteful consumption. Suppose, for example, the fuel 
consumption were presented in a table like the following, 
using any one or all three of the units suggested ; any marked 
deviation from a normal amount of fuel consumed would at 
once suggest inquiry to discover the cause, which of course 
might lie in any one of several directions, — like defective 
furnaces, exposed or badly constructed buildings, unskillful 
firing, or actual misappropriation of fuel. 



Table 114 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 



SHOWING CONSUMPTION OF FUEL IN 

DISTRICT 



SCHOOL 







Number of Tons 


Cost per 
Ton 


Total 
Cost 


Cost per 

1000 Cu. 

Ft. 


Cost per 

Sitting 


Cost per 
Capita of 
Attendance 




Fuel No. 1 


Fuel No. 2 


School No. 1 . . 
School No. 2 . . 
Etc 
















Total of Average 

















If such statistics were preserved year after year and if it 
were at any time a matter of uncertainty as to where causes of 
deviation from the normal might lie, a table could readily be 
prepared, which would cast still more light on possible sources 
of waste, by showing, over a series of years, whether a marked 
departure from the average is due to a transient cause or 
to something fundamental in building or in janitor service. 
Excellent tables are given and used in Milwaukee and Balti- 
more. After these forms were given to the Superintendent of 
Supplies of the New York Board of Education methods were 
adopted that resulted in a saving of over $200,000 yearly in 
coal. 

In general it may be said that in all matters of routine 
expenditure where waste or peculation may possibly enter, 
it is highly desirable to present to the public something more 
than mere totals of expenditure. By reducing the expendi- 
tures among different schools, or different supplies consumed, 
— as fuel, school supplies to children, text-books, etc., — to 
some unit basis, it becomes much more possible to detect 
variations and to seek an explanation of the same. 

The statistics of school expenditure present a relatively 
simple problem in one respect, owing to the possibility of 
definite schemes of classification. On the other hand, in 
endeavoring to provide better statistics of school work 



SUGGESTED ECONOMIES AND IMPROVEMENTS 139 

or the results of such work, educators are handicapped 
by the absence of satisfactory schemes of classification. 
Children may be classified readily enough along a few lines, 
as previously illustrated in the existing statistics — these 
being sex, age, grade, attendance, parental nationality and 
occupation, and, less perfectly, scholarship, promotion, 
graduation, and deportment. But in the highly important 
matters of health, moral character, mental ability, actual 
educational progress made in school, economic condition 
of family, and many others, — it is difficult, at present, to 
make any statistical showing because adequate schemes of 
classification have not yet been devised. For comparative 
purposes it is obviously almost indispensable to have simple 
schemes of classification. Thus from the standpoint of its 
effect on school work, the health of children cannot be classi- 
fied on the basis of the indefinite number of complaints diag- 
nosed by the physician. For purposes of administrative 
control children should, as to their physical well-being, be 
divided into relatively few categories, — these being graduated 
with reference to the bearing of each on the ability of the child 
in school work, or the degree to which it should modify or 
restrain such work. Simply by way of illustration it may be 
pointed out that, if it were possible to make four or five 
divisions of children on the basis of their merely physical 
ability to submit profitably to school hours, discipline, and 
studies, administrative adjustment would be greatly facili- 
tated. Some of our city schools are slowly discovering that a 
large percentage of over-age children are suffering from some 
sort of positive physical handicap. Surely it would be of the 
utmost educational interest and value (assuming that we 
could simply and with fair accuracy classify children on 
the score of physical well-being) to discover what relation- 
ship existed between physical vitality and such matters as 
scholarship, attendance, over-age, behavior, promotion, and 
graduation, etc. 



140 EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 

Possibly such classification must wait on the development of 
medical inspection, and close cooperation between school 
physicians and teachers. Since, however, every teacher is 
assumed to know something of the health conditions of her 
pupils, and to wish to relate school work to these health 
conditions, it seems reasonably practical to provide the teacher 
with some carefully (even if tentatively) planned scheme of 
classification, to the end that each child should be classified 
according to the teacher's best judgment and that ultimately 
these classifications may be worked into relationship with 
other methods of classifying children. Even the imperfect 
work of the teacher in this field, where she is not expected to 
possess expert knowledge, would undoubtedly make her more 
discriminating, and her imperfect results might still shadow 
forth certain very important facts of school administration. 

Moral character, or, as the school test makes it, deportment, 
is now subject to classification in school reports. The 
classification, however, does not seem to be adequate for the 
purposes of studying the relationship of the facts of moral 
character to scholarship, regularity of attendance, over-age, 
health, etc., for we never find such studies made on a statistical 
basis. It is conceivable that a more adequate treatment of 
classification in this regard would lead to results which would 
finally have much importance in the matter of forming and 
dealing with special classes, administering discipline, etc. 

Another field in which we lack classification at the present 
time has reference to the economic and social condition of the 
homes of the children. It might possibly be considered un- 
American and inquisitorial to endeavor to obtain such facts, 
but in view of the close bearing of nurture, regular rest, etc., 
on the educational work of the school, it may well be deemed 
an essential part of the work of school administration to obtain 
such information. In all this discussion, of course, there is 
not assumed any publicity as regards individual cases ; public- 
ity is supposed to extend only to classes of persons with whom 



SUGGESTED ECONOMIES AND IMPROVEMENTS 141 

the school deals, and then only on the assumption that such 
publicity affects the educational work beneficially. Hence 
the obtaining of the above data and its classification would not 
in any way disclose parental conditions except to those whose 
share in the education of the child entitles them to confiden- 
tial information on these points on somewhat the same basis 
as it does to the results of medical inspection. A valuable 
contribution to knowledge of home conditions, and the need 
for home teaching of non-dependent as well as dependent or 
very poor mothers, is given in the Report on Home Con- 
ditions of 1400 Families whose Children were found by 
School Physicians to have Physical Defects, by the New 
York Committee on Physical Welfare of School Children, 
American Statistical Journal, July, 1907. 

So far as the results of school work are concerned, the 
educational system is seriously at fault in its failure to provide 
systems of classification that enable the city to know what is 
actually done by its public school system. We have seen that 
our first test of educational work is in terms of attendances 
made ; the second is in terms of promotions and graduations. 
Beyond this the public possesses no means of ascertaining 
whether the work of the system is worth while or not. An 
instance of this is found in the case of children who are kept 
in school under the operation of compulsory education laws 
and who, of themselves or through the connivance of their 
parents, seek to evade such laws. What does this compul- 
sory attendance accomplish for them? Do they make any 
progress in the classes to which they are assigned? What 
is their condition when they finally reach the age where the 
law no longer may force them to attend? At present our 
defective systems of classification and statistical presentation 
give us no light whatever on this problem which is surely of 
great administrative importance. Similarly with regard to the 
vast number of children who fail of promotion or of gradua- 
tion. Who are they ? Why are they behind ? What becomes 



142 EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 

of them ? Even now few reports are so prepared as to indicate 
the existence of such a class ; whilst in no case is any statistical 
presentation made which would enable the interested citi- 
zen to learn why the school has failed to reach or affect such 
a class. In other words, the defects in our reports start from 
the elementary fact that we do not yet possess any adequate 
system of classifying the results of school work to the end that 
tabulated statements of results may be made. 

The final success of any statistical work is dependent upon 
systems of classification that will prove workable. In few 
departments of science or practical affairs can we have exact 
and rigid classifications ; all are, within limits, approximate ; 
but approximate classifications, if understood to be approxi- 
mate, are of great service in all statistical methods of arriving 
at knowledge of fact and control of action. Especially must 
any classifications of school children be based measurably on 
estimate and approximation ; but their value is great. 

In trying to depend upon classifications and arbitrary 
divisions there is, of course, the ever present danger that the 
individual will be lost sight of, and it is probable that many 
efficient superintendents, — especially of smaller school sys- 
tems, where some contact of superintendent with individual 
teacher and of teacher with pupil is possible, — will resent 
the tendency to ask for more extended statistical methods 
in dealing with their schools, on the ground that they do not 
wish their teachers to become statisticians, if that will in any 
way interfere with their regard for the individual. But this, 
of course, is a fear of the abuses, not of the proper uses, of 
educational statistics. It could be readily demonstrated 
that as school administration is at present, not merely in- 
dividuals, but entire groups and classes of individuals suffer 
irremediable injury, owing to our failure to develop and to 
employ quantitative standards in our work. Publicity of the 
right kind and administrative control mean that the instru- 
ments by which these are attained shall be merely means to 



SUGGESTED ECONOMIES AND IMPROVEMENTS 143 

the knowledge and control which lie at the basis of adminis- 
trative efficiency and not that these means shall become ends 
in themselves. 

In addition to working classifications that will cover a 
wider range of fact than can now be reached, there is also 
a well-defined demand for such forms of record as will tend 
to give the main facts regarding each individual pupil through- 
out his school life. Because the class register is not practicable 
for this purpose the continuous card is proposed. The con- 
tinuous card record has been tried at some points, especially 
in high schools, as a means of preserving a permanent scholar- 
ship record in cases where promotion is by subject. In 
elementary schools it has been used, but only in one or two 
places in such a form as to preserve all the important facts 
regarding the individual pupil. Frequently it contains only 
name and residence, name of parent, etc., and is used by the 
principal. But the ideal card should be such as would, at the 
end of each term or year, receive from the register and the 
book of class standings all the important facts, in summarized 
form, so that from term to term or year to year these would 
be accumulated, thus providing a history of the pupil. In 
German and French schools this is accomplished by the book 
which the pupil retains. But for administrative purposes in 
American schools it would be preferable that this card should 
always be retained by the school, provision being made to have 
it passed on from one school to another as the pupil is trans- 
ferred. Such a card as this is now advocated by a com- 
mittee of principals for the New York schools, and if adopted, 
will undoubtedly be quickly copied in other schools. It is 
estimated that this card and the changes that it would neces- 
sitate will save one half hour a day for each teacher and in 
addition will give invaluable information as to school, prin- 
cipal, teacher, and child. Facts as to the proposed individual 
record can be had by applying to City Superintendent of 
Schools, 59th Street and Park Avenue, New York City. 



144 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 



The precise form of such a card as this would have to be a 
matter of experiment in schools of different types and sizes. 
Here again is need for a scientific investigation such as only 
the United States Bureau of Education is equipped to make 
for all states. It is important that a card be devised that is 
suitable for all sections of the country, because comparison 
of one city with another is a most valuable means of school 
progress. If, as before suggested, it were possible to make in 
some very brief form a classification of pupils as to health, 
deportment, social environment, etc., it would certainly be 
desirable that space be provided for such facts. Obviously 
a form like the following would contain the more important 
facts : 

Table 115 

SAMPLE CARD FOR CONTINUOUS RECORD 
(Size 5 in. by 7 in.) 



Name (Boy or Girl) ...... 

Year Month 

Date of Birth 

Place of Birth 



Day 



Name of Father 

Occupation of Father. 
Nationality of Father. 





Name of School 


Grade 


Term 


Promotion 


Residence 


Attendance 


Present 


Absent 


P. S. 71 


4th B. 


f 1-14-06 ) 
1 6-10-06 ) 


P 


221 Blank 


171 


29 





of School 


>> 


Scholarship 


a 

CD 

s 



a, 

CD 
P 


CD 

w 




Name 


1 


la 


1 


5-> 

B 


so 

CD 




CD 

a 
<*> 


a 
a 


Special Notes 


P. S. 71 • 




12 


A 


c 


B 


D 


B 


A 


A 


c 


B 


Was ill 1 month 



A separate sheet of instructions would be supplied to the 
teacher. Most of the above items are self-explanatory, but 
note: 



SUGGESTED ECONOMIES AND IMPROVEMENTS 145 

1. If pupil is boy, cancel word girl, and vice versa. 

2. Use P, nP, and cP for promoted, not promoted, conditionally 
promoted. 

3. Scholarship marks are found by averaging quarter marks in 
special subjects, and averaging these for groups of related subjects, 
e.g. spelling, composition, mechanics of reading, and grammar make 
the subject "Language." 

4. Teacher's estimate of health is from teacher's standpoint. Medical 
examiner has separate card. Teacher will use following basis of record 
for health. 

A. Continuous good health and working vigor. 

B. Good health, except period of illness. 

C. Generally poor health or chronic colds, nervousness, etc., but 
not so as to interfere greatly with school work. 

D. Chronically poor health, periods of severe illness, etc. 

The statistical uses to which some such card could be put in 
endeavoring to improve administrative control of a school 
system are almost indefinite. Many of the most important 
questions as to what the school is able to accomplish with 
children — questions of retardation in grades, of causes of 
failure of promotion, etc. — could be statistically answered. 
As a means of educational diagnosis, some thousands of such 
cards, running over a series of years, would be incomparably 
superior to any form of records now made. Furthermore, as a 
means of diagnosing social conditions and social tendencies 
there is ground for believing that no other field offers greater 
opportunity for such scientific research as that to which are 
devoted the funds of the Carnegie Institution for Scientific 
Research and the Russell Sage Foundation for Improving 
Social Conditions. 

Grave doubt is frequently expressed whether the school 
census in the large American city is a profitable investment 
of money. Common sense tells us that if educational ad- 
ministration is to be at all worth while, it is desirable that the 
city know how many children are to be educated, where they 
are located, and whether they are receiving an education at 



146 EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 

the hands of private agencies. But experience often dem- 
onstrates that as the school census is now taken we really do 
not arrive at any workable statement in regard to the above 
matters. The census is taken by people who are inexpert 
and who can get trustworthy information only on matters of 
number and location, regarding which parents have no desire 
to misstate facts. The results of the census are published 
only after a considerable interval during which many children 
have come of age, many have moved, and other conditions 
have changed. Finally, the census when taken is not in a 
form to be actually used by a given school or its attendance 
department in a profitable way. This criticism applies to 
most American cities. 

It seems quite probable that the taking and keeping of the 
school census will have to be put on an entirely different 
basis before it will successfully meet the real needs of the 
situation. The following is submitted as a logical solution 
of the difficulty. In its main features it corresponds to many 
of the modern devices of successful business administration, 
and merits, therefore, the credit of an examination. 1 

Each large American city has, as an adjunct to its educa- 
tional administration, an attendance department. Let us 
assume that a census of all children in a given school dis- 
trict is once made, and its results preserved on cards in the 
form of a card catalogue. Let us assume that once being 
made, it becomes the duty of the attendance department to 
keep this census up to date. Naturally a procedure somewhat 
like the following would be carried out : a week or two after 
the opening of the public school of a given district, the attend- 
ance officer would sort out, from the entire number of cards 
standing for the children of school age in the district during 
the previous term, the cards of those children who were now in 
attendance, and also the cards of those who had passed beyond 

1 The substance of this discussion of the School Census appeared in the 
New York School Journal, Vol. 70, p. 553. 



SUGGESTED ECONOMIES AND IMPROVEMENTS 147 

the compulsory school age. The attendance officer would 
find in the school a number of children for whom he had no 
census cards, these representing new arrivals in the district. 
For these new cards could readily be prepared in the school 
itself. 

After this preliminary sorting, there would remain the 
cards of all children not attending school. These would 
consist of the following classes : (a) Children who had re- 
moved from the district during the summer ; (b) Children who 
were attending private schools; (c) Children detained by 
parents for satisfactory reasons, as illness ; and (d) Children 
who were absent from school illegally. A further sorting of 
the cards could now be made, for purely temporary purposes, 
on the basis of those who, by virtue of their previous record, 
would probably fall into classes (6) and (c). This would 
leave a residuum of cases which it would be the business of 
the attendance department to investigate at once. If, owing 
to the age or sex or previous record of the pupil, it seemed 
probable that certain children were being illegally employed, 
or were truant, then naturally these cases would be first in- 
vestigated. Or, since each card contains the residence of the 
pupil for the preceding year, it would be possible now to classify 
these cards by city blocks or such other restricted areas as 
would facilitate door-to-door investigation. In the course 
of this investigation, the officer would find many cases of 
removal, and the houses occupied by newcomers. For these 
newcomers he would then and there make a census. In 
other cases he would discover illness, chronic or temporary, 
and here a record of this fact would be made. Other children 
would be reported at parochial schools, and note be made of 
that fact, — the parent's statement to be corroborated later 
by information procured from the school itself. And so the 
work would go on, the attendance department proceeding in 
a thoroughly systematic fashion instead of the haphazard 
fashion that is now the rule in most cities. 



148 EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 

There would still be a certain number of newcomers in the 
district for whom there were no cards in the school. If these 
children were sent to private school or illegally detained from 
school, the attendance department would have no check on 
them until it had included them in its census. This assumes 
that the department would, in due season, set about the 
making of census of all these new arrivals, and in a region 
where there is much shifting of population this would be a 
considerable task. But at least two considerations must be 
kept in mind here. The first is that the attendance officer 
or officers attached to a given school would be supposed to 
know their areas very well. Knowing these areas thus well, 
they would by multitudinous ways receive a large amount of 
information as to new arrivals, location of unschooled children, 
etc., quite early in the year. It has been previously shown 
that the investigation of homes from which families on last 
year's record have removed would suffice to disclose a con- 
siderable number of these new arrivals. Again, the attend- 
ance department would be at work the entire year taking 
note of all new arrivals at the school, and so a considerable 
number of new arrivals would tend to enroll themselves. 

In discussing any continuous census of this sort, it must be 
kept in mind that it could be made to provide information 
which the census as now taken cannot provide. The present 
census is usually taken by very inexpert people, — by the 
police or by men or women hired for a few days and who 
know little of the language or customs of the area in which 
they work. It is taken by people who have neither opportu- 
nity nor desire to pursue their investigations further than a 
merely formal compliance with the requirements of their 
work. Where the police take the census, conditions are some- 
what improved, but here again there are many obstacles in 
the way of securing exact information. It is not for the inter- 
mittent census taker to determine whether a child reported 
as deaf, ill, or crippled, is really so or not. But the attend- 



SUGGESTED ECONOMIES AND IMPROVEMENTS 149 

ancc department, cooperating with all departments of the 
school system and also with the organized charitable asso- 
ciations, would have greater reason and greater opportunity 
to verify the facts. 

Again, any statistics of school attendance now taken in the 
census are practically worthless, even assuming that parents 
report correctly, for they express that attendance in no quanti- 
tative way. For example, the school census of a city shows 
that so many children of given ages have attended public 
school and so many have attended parochial school. But 
there is nothing to prevent an attendance of a week or two 
from counting in either enumeration. On the other hand, 
if provision were made to enter the approximate time attend- 
ances on the permanent card kept by the attendance de- 
partment, the officer could easily obtain such figures from 
public and private schools at a minimum expenditure of time. 

From these cards, in the long run, could also be obtained the 
most satisfactory information for the enforcement of child 
labor laws. After such census had been kept up for some 
years, it would be entirely practicable to obtain the past 
school history of any city child. The earlier age records 
would seldom show any tendency to give false records, and 
so a check would be had on the tendencies of parents to over- 
estimate the ages of their children when the age limit for 
compulsory attendance is approaching. 

Nothing is said here about the cooperation of one school 
with another in the matter of keeping these records ad- 
justed, and in interchanging cards where the address to which 
families have moved can be found. But a really efficient 
scheme of administration would soon discover opportunities 
for this. 

However businesslike such a plan as the above may appear 
on paper, its feasibility may be questioned. At present New 
York has one attendance officer to something like nine thou- 
sand children on net enrollment. Even for the present work 



150 EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 

of the attendance department it is claimed that the above 
number of officers is quite inadequate. If it were possible to 
utilize some of the money now spent on the taking of the school 
census, it would considerably increase the efficiency of an at- 
tendance department. It is very improbable that the keeping 
of a live census would be in effect the addition of so much more 
work to the present attendance department, for the census 
above proposed would in many directions greatly expedite 
the present work of the department. It is quite conceivable 
that one attendance officer to 5000 children of school age in a 
compactly settled city like New York might be sufficient to do 
the entire work because there would be relatively few cases 
to be investigated after due account of all children actually 
attending school had been taken; and the businesslike 
methods above proposed would tend to bring this residue into 
evidence in the most expeditious manner possible. 

It should be noted that, while the school would be the main 
gainer in effectiveness through a trustworthy and up-to-date 
census, other civic work would be greatly aided by it. Chari- 
table societies would find it of much service, and the statistics 
of children so gathered would be of the utmost significance to 
students and scientists. 



CHAPTER VII 

A Practical Study of One School Report (New 
York City) 

The starting point for any school officer or volunteer student 
of school needs who may wish to apply the principles laid 
down in the foregoing chapters will naturally be the report 
of his own schools. By applying to one's local school report 
questions raised in Chapter V, or by comparing tables with 
those cited in Chapter IV from the best city reports, the reader 
will be able at once to see whether constructive suggestions 
are required. The complete report for the schools of New 
York City is in two volumes, one signed by the Superin- 
tendent of Schools (for the school year ending July 31) and 
one by the Board of Education (for the fiscal year ending De- 
cember 31). Since the latter is not given general circulation, 
and since the former contains facts as to financial adminis- 
tration, this study of reporting in New York City is confined 
to the City Superintendent's Eighth Annual Report for the 
year ending July 31, 1906. 

Its Potential Influence 

A word-to-word reading of this document of 479 pages 
shows that it deals with questions of tremendous moment not 
only to New York City, but to the educational world. In 
fact, it is probable that no other single school report touches 
upon so many problems and so many aims of a public school 
system. Effective use is repeatedly made of tabular state- 
ments to disclose tendencies, to show increases and de- 
creases, to advertise the needs of different districts and differ- 
ent schools for special facilities, to interpret the progress of 
certain lines of educational effort. The argument for adequate 
records and accounts is condensed in the plea for a study 
of European experience of trade schools (p. 123), — "The 

151 



152 EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 

chief difficulty is that we have no traditions to guide us, no 
standards by which to measure our work, no fund of ex- 
perience from which to draw." Just because this report is 
brim full of suggestive material it is important that its sug- 
gestions, and the experience upon which these suggestions 
are based, be marshaled with the utmost efficiency. No 
American school report, in fact no school report in the world, 
has the educational opportunity of that describing the ex- 
perience and the needs of New York City's schools. So far 
as its standards are higher than other cities, it exerts a power- 
ful influence for more intelligent analysis of school experience. 
So far as its statistical and pedagogical methods fall short, it is 
probably true of this report as of no other, that it is a serious 
handicap to educational advance throughout the world. In 
attempting, therefore, to measure this report by the standards 
set up in the foregoing chapters, we are not only suggesting 
steps by which any school officer or volunteer may measure 
his local school report, but we are interpreting the need for 
school statistics in the light of the interests of 700,000 children 
in one administrative unit and of taxpayers who gladly pay 
a school tax of nearly $30,000,000 a year. 

Technical Methods 

It would not be profitable in this chapter to make a critical 
examination in detail, as in almost every instance typical needs 
called to the attention of those who prepare a report will 
suffice to establish both principle and method. Of the 147 
questions given in Chapter V, 1 13 (marked*) are not answered 
in the New York Report. The great number of questions not 
there listed that are answered, however, speak eloquently of 
the possibilities of a school report that is intended to answer 
important queries and to help solve problems. It is proposed, 
therefore, merely to cite a few examples where tables could 
be easily improved and the Superintendent's message strength- 
ened, were certain technical methods adopted that have been 
found useful in other cities. 



a practical study of one school report 153 

Alphabetical Topical Index 

The Table of Contents is chronological, not topical. In 
reading these four pages one gets the impression of a sug- 
gestive, comprehensive report dealing with a great many 
social and educational conditions and problems, — kinder- 
garten growth, part-time problem, promotion, schools without 
kindergarten, shops or kitchen, changes in course of study 
for elementary schools, diseases in school children, classes for 
mentally defective children, schools for the crippled, deaf and 
dumb and blind, compulsory education, pupils' self-govern- 
ment, parents' meetings, drawing, music, cooking, vacation 
schools and playgrounds, physical training, medical school 
inspection. But since few persons read any report from 
cover to cover and since most of us use reports for answering 
questions as to one particular problem at a time, the reader can 
obtain little help from this Table of Contents. An alphabet- 
ical, topical index, showing for the Superintendent's report 
and its twenty appendices all the pages where each subject 
is treated, would greatly increase both the usefulness and the 
interest of the report. 

Typographical Technique 

The introductory pages that set forth the powers and organ- 
ization of the Board of Education (pp. 9-14) promise logical 
treatment, use of indentation, numerals, and letters to facilitate 
classification. This promise, however, the body of the re- 
port fails to fulfill. No use is made of heavy-faced type or of 
the many other devices by which a printer can aid the reader. 
There are no page headings. Page after page of solid printed 
matter is given that is too valuable to be permitted to seem 
uninteresting. Superintendents who find the same defects 
in their own reports will find also that a little expert editing 
will not only add to the clearness and interest of their story, 
but will save both space and money. 



154 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 



Economy of Condensation 

Repetition is expensive. This report consumes pages in 
itemizing facts that it later puts in a summary table occupying 
but an inch or two. Why not dispense with the long drawn- 
out, unintelligible enumeration of isolated facts and let the 
summary tell the story ? The story of progress in providing 
seats (p. i8ff.) would be greatly helped by a short table that 
would disclose what the English call "expectancy," not only 
for the city as a whole, but for each grade, thus : 

Table 116 

SITTINGS BY GRADES IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 



Opening school year September, 1906 

Added during year 1906 

At beginning school year 1906 . . 
Added September to December, 1906 
Total available sittings January, 1907 

Total contracted for 

To be completed September, 1907 . 
Total available September, 1907 . . 



Total 



The economy of condensation is illustrated by p. 87 of 
the New York report which is here reproduced with the 
same matter set up in condensed form (Table 117 a): 



Table 117. New York 

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 

PRINCIPALS 



Number of Applications 


Number Granted 


Number Refused 


IO 


IO 


O 



A PRACTICAL STUDY OF ONE SCHOOL REPORT 155 

ASSISTANTS TO PRINCIPALS 



Number of Applications 


Number Granted 


Number Refused 


6 


4 


2 


GRADUATING CLASS LICENSES 


Number of Applications 


Number Granted 


Number Refused 


21 


14 


7 


LICENSES FOR PROMOTION 


Number of Applications 


Number Granted 


Number Refused 


126 


63 


63 


KINDERGARTEN LICENSES 


Number of Applications 


Number Granted 


Number Refused 


278 


193 


85 


Table 117 a. 

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 


Licenses Sought 


No. Applications 


No. 


Granted 


No. Refused 


Principals 

Assistants to Principals 
Graduating Class . . 

Promotion 

Kindergarten .... 


IO 

6 

21 

126 

278 


IO 

4 

14 

63 

193 


O 

2 

7 
63 

85 



A map defining the school districts could be used year after 
year, and besides telling the reader what part of the city was 
meant by District 37, would save setting up each year the 
enumeration of divisions and districts (p. 16). The number 
of children, teachers, and schools per district and per division 
would indicate the magnitude of responsibility per division or 



i56 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 



district superintendent, and would supplement the map in 
aiding a number of agencies endeavoring to secure adequate 
funds for schools, parks, playgrounds, public baths, etc. 

Summary Tables 

The summary on p. 23 shows that the possibilities of 
omission in a summary are almost as great as the possibilities 
of inclusion. Because few persons have time to read 446 
pages of editorial comment, it is highly desirable to present 
summaries giving the essential features of school experience 
and indicating the essential problems. If the summaries in 
our New York report were comprehensive, there could be no 
possible excuse for a school commissioner's boast that he had 
never read a school report in his life. It is suggested that no 
more important step toward adequate, uniform reporting of 
school facts could be taken than for the school authorities in 
New York to prepare summaries adequate in form and in 
content. It is not too much to affirm that proper summaries 
requiring possibly 6 or 10 pages would render unnecessary 
100, perhaps 200, pages of the present bulky report. The 
summary table is here produced without figures and should 
be compared with similar tables in Chapter IV. 

Table 118. New York 



1 905- 1 906 



Increase 



Per Cent 



Net enrollment in all schools . . 

Average daily attendance . . . 

Per cent of average daily attend- 
ance on average register . . 

Average register in high schools 

Average register in training 
schools 

Average register in elementary 
schools 



A PRACTICAL STUDY OF ONE SCHOOL REPORT 1 57 



Average register to kindergartens 

Number of superintendents . . 



Number of directors of special 
branches 

Number of assistant directors of 
special branches 

Number of teachers of special 
branches 

Number of training school prin- 
cipals 

Number of training school 
teachers 



Number of high school principals 



Number of high school teachers 



Number of elementary school 
principals and heads of depart- 
ments 

Number of elementary school 
teachers 



Number of kindergarten teachers 

Average number of pupils to a 
teacher in high schools based 
on the average register . . . 

Average number of pupils to a 
class in elementary schools 
based on the average register 

Average number of pupils to a 
class in kindergartens based on 
the average register .... 



1004- "JOS K)O5-I0O0 



I in n;iso Per C'int 



158 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 



Many useful modifications are possible in the foregoing 
summary. The totals for 1905 being of little importance 
when the increase in 1906 over 1905 is given, there would be 
no great loss if the figures for 1905 were omitted and the 
space used to give information of value. If desirable to tell 
more of the story on one page, several columns could be added 
by turning the page around and running the headings from 
bottom to top, as in many of the tables in Chapter IV. Much 
space is wasted because some headings take two lines. Some 
of these lines could be shortened. For example, .number of 
can be dropped. Based on average register uses up three 
lines. A footnote might explain once for all that average 
number of pupils enrolled means average register. In fact, 
a key to abbreviations and to terms in the first pages might 
save a great deal of explanatory matter in the body of the 
report. Space saved by turning the page and by omitting 
unnecessary words might be used for additional important 
facts classified according to kind of school. For example : 

Table 119 



Net enrollment . . 
Highest enrollment 
Lowest enrollment 
Average register . 
Average attendance 
Average absence . 
Per cent promoted 
Per cent not pro 

moted .... 
Per capita cost . . 
Total cost ... 
Number of teachers 
Pupils per teacher 
Sittings under con- 
struction . . 
Additional sittings 

needed .... 

Children examined 

Days lost account in 

fection .... 



Kindergarten 



1906 Inc 



Elementary 



1906 Inc 



High 



1906 Inc 



Training 



1906 Inc 



All Schools 



1906 Inc 



A PRACTICAL STUDY OF ONE SCHOOL REPORT 



159 



Thus without additional space it is made possible to com- 
pare readily different kinds of school and different facts for 
each kind of school. The reader beginning with the high 
school column could quickly learn all the important facts 
about pupils, teachers, and needs in these schools. The 
feasibility of such suggestion is shown not only by numerous 
reports in Chapter IV, but by the register of individual schools 
in the New York report (p. 453 fL). In 1906 the report 
gave: 



School 


Location 


Principal 


Number of 
Pupils on 
Register, 
Sept. 30, 
1904 


54 G . . . . 


104th St. & Amsterdam Ave. . . 


Margaretta Uihlein . . 


90S 



In 1907 the same space gives the following : 



School 



Location 



i-j d q 

< 



3Pl,P40 h 



° ° J " 

3PhPl,0 m 



S4G 



104th St. & Amsterdam Ave. 



768 



872 



Totals should be Classified 

Unclassified totals are largely responsible for the evil 
reputation of statistics. These are found frequently in the 
New York report. For example, the table on p. 32 gives for 
each of 22 districts of Manhattan the number of sittings, 
excess or deficiency of sittings, and the number of pupils 
registered September 30, 1906. In 7 districts there is a 
total deficiency of 3,719 sittings; in 15 districts there is an 
excess of 20,164 sittings ; a net excess in all districts of 16,445 
sittings. If, however, average need for sittings, i.e. 1 average 
attendance, had been compared with sittings provided, there 
would have been an excess of sittings in every district, total- 



160 EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 

ing 33,905 in all districts, and an excess of 4,667 in the 7 
supposedly deficient districts. (The foregoing figures for 
attendance are obtained by applying to the register for Sep- 
tember 30, the attendance percentage, 90.6%, for the previous 
year, all boroughs. The attendance is not given by districts.) 
Without locating needy grades it would appear then that 
unclassified totals as to excess or deficiency of sittings would 
throw no light on schools or districts needing more seats or 
having part-time pupils. Such judgment is confirmed by 
p. 45 which gives the number of part-time pupils in each dis- 
trict, the date being the same as for the above-quoted table. 
Of 22 districts having an excess of 16,445 sittings when 
compared with the register, or of 33,905 when compared 
with average need for sittings, 12 districts report from 190 
to 6,264 pupils on part-time, a total of 21,587. District 3, 
which reports an excess of 2,355 sittings, also reports 190 
part-time pupils; Number 7, with 597 seats to spare, has 
2,047 part-time pupils. Had this table compared the num- 
ber of sittings in grades where there is overcrowding with 
the number of pupils in those grades, the real needs would 
have been clearly shown. Had the register and sittings for 
each grade been given, any one could tell just where relief 
was needed and where consolidation of two or three classes 
was possible. Had the returns been classified by grades 
on each principal's report for September 30, 1906, it would 
have been as easy to show the real situation and the places 
where relief was needed as to print unclassified totals. 

Uniform District Reports 

The division superintendents make reports, but, while they 
are presumably coping with comparable conditions, it is not 
possible to compare the problems or the efficiency of these 
important officials. A uniform basis of reporting would 
bring out differences which the city superintendent, school 



A PRACTICAL STUDY OF ONE SCHOOL REPORT i6l 

commissioner, and reader would wish explained. Further- 
more, such comparative statements would give to the weakest 
and least orderly mind among the division superintendents 
the method worked out by the strongest, most orderly mind. 
That there are differences in orderliness the division reports 
prove. With advantage the Connecticut plan could be copied 
of ranking superintendents according to pupils registered, 
a! tendance, number of classes, part-time pupils, truancy, 
number of teachers, per cent of promotion, per cent of de- 
motions, regularity of attendance, facilities needed. Such 
ranking would not only stimulate both wholesome rivalry 
and critical study, but would undoubtedly lead to similar 
ranking of district superintendents by division chiefs, of 
principals by district superintendents, and of teachers by 
principals. Instead of leveling the individuality of the dis- 
trict superintendents, the uniform basis of presenting the 
facts about which comment is made would bring into clear 
relief the personality of each writer and would concentrate 
upon editorial style and matter the attention which is now 
diverted by a great deal of statistical matter that readers are 
unable to assimilate. 



Averages may Mislead 

How averages mislead is shown on p. 216 which gives the 
number of papers marked and the average per cent attained 
in each of twenty-six high school subjects : 





January, 1906 


Subject 


Number of Papers 


Average Per Cent 
attained in Subject 


English 


545 
1,068 
1,198 


66.5 
64.9 
56.9 


Algebra 





If 8 boys attain 70% and 2 boys attain 10%, what is 
the average scholarship? 



1 62 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 



100% x 10 = i, 000%, the maximum possibility for 10 
boys. 

60% x 10 = 600%, the minimum requirement for pro- 
moting 10 boys. 

If 8 attain 70% (70% x 8 = 560%) and 2 attain 10% 
(10% x 2 = 20%), the class as a whole attains 580%, or 20% 
less than passing mark. In other words by the method of 
averages given in the above table 100% of a class of 10 would 
appear as falling below passing mark, whereas 80% were 10 
points above passing mark. 

Comparing School with School 

To compare, school with school, the failures in English from 
the present table requires that the reader examine pp. 217, 
219, 221, 222, 223, 225, 226, 227, 229, 230, 232, 233, 235, 236, 
237, 238, 240, 241, 242, 243. How many people will take this 
trouble? If, however, the facts as to English examinations 
in all high schools were on the same page, as are the facts as 
to graduation (p. 246) and admission (p. 247), even the 
casual reader would at once be struck with the differences 
requiring attention. 

GRADUATES 



High Schools 



Date of 
Exami- 
nation 



Number 
Exam- 
ined 



Number 
Gradu- 
ated 



Whole 
Number 
Examined 



Whole 

Number 

Graduated 



Per Cent 
Gradu- 
ated 



ADMISSIONS 









SP 




















Ov 


o. 










^ 




00 


VO 






Subject 




J-l u 





og 

To 




no" 


J. ° 

O V 

bo" 







■sf 


.Ufa 


.fa 


Jjfa 


.3 fa 


a fa 




rt 


"SPh 


ta^ 


rt&n 


"JS&H 


rtPn 




O 


£ 


Pi 


X 


Pi 


# 


Pi 



















a practical study of one school report 163 

Readers ask Questions 

How questions are stimulated by published records is 
indicated by the report on compulsory attendance (p. 251 ff.) : 

Table 120. New York 

Number cases investigated by attendance officers .... 149,846 
Number cases of truancy investigated by attendance officers . 17,120 

What were the other 132,726 cases? 

Number of different individuals found to be truants . . . 9,263 

Number found to be non-attendants and placed in school . . 2,289 

Number found to be truants and committed to institutions . . 157 

Number found to be truants and committed to truant school . 754 
Number found to be employed contrary to law and returned to 

school 1,676 

What became of the 4,387 truants not accounted for in this 
report of cases disposed of ? 

How many were night school or high school truants ? Why 
were fines imposed on only 39 out of 262 parents arrested ? 
What led to the arrest of these only among the parents of 
9,263? What fines were paid? What was the effect upon 
the truant ? 

How many days do truancy officers work? How many 
days are they active before school opens? How many days 
after school closes ? Is there any reason why truant officers 
should not work during midyear vacations ? 

Of 318 parents brought to the Children's Court why were 
160 dismissed? Did their children attend regularly there- 
after? Does it pay to take truancy cases to the Children's 
Court ? 

What was done with 656 parents brought before the city 
magistrates for violating the compulsory education law? 

Explaining School Needs 

Needs are set forth clearly, pp. 92-98, in tables that give 
schools without kindergartens, schools without shops or 



164 EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 

kitchens, schools having shops but no kitchens, schools 
having kitchens but no shops, schools for girls only having 
no kitchens, and schools for boys only having no shops. This 
admirable principle is not applied to roof gardens, gym- 
nasiums, shower bath, proper ventilation, play space, ad- 
justable desks, or to truant officers. While more vacation 
schools are urged, we find only the following general statement 
that will neither help nor inspire a school director or a vol- 
unteer agency wishing to increase vacation schools: "The 
amount of money required to double the facilities of vacation 
schools and playgrounds would be comparatively small, while 
the financial loss involved in keeping the majority of our 
school buildings closed and unused during the summer is 
enormous." Nowhere in the report is given a statement of 
the total cost of vacation schools now existing, hence it means 
little to say that the "amount required to double" would 
be small. In connection with this it is important to point 
out that no appeal has been made to the Board of Esti- 
mate and Apportionment during the spring months of 1907 
for funds to increase the number of vacation schools, while 
for the year under review the number of schools was actually 
reduced by ten from the number voted by the Board of Esti- 
mate and Apportionment, although salaries of supervising 
officers were increased in amounts exceeding the amount 
required to run these additional schools. 

What do Schools Cost? 

As to cost, the report says (p. 104): "The exact amount 
expended on account of the day schools . . . cannot be 
stated for the reason that no separate accounts are kept 
showing the amount expended for vacation schools, play- 
grounds, and evening schools; for supplies, lighting, fuel, 
repairs," etc. Again, "The per capita cost of a pupil in 
the day schools ... is really too high because all the amounts 
expended for supplies, fuel, salaries of janitors, and incidental 



A PRACTICAL STUDY OF ONE SCHOOL REPORT 165 

expenses are charged against the day schools, whereas a con- 
siderable share of these monies is expended on evening schools, 
recreation centers, vacation schools, and playgrounds." The 
cost of high school instruction is not known because (p. 105) 
"the salaries of superintendents, examiners, directors, and 
attendance officers " are charged to elementary schools. The 
cost of evening schools is of course not correct because only 
salaries paid principals and teachers are charged. The 
published cost of vacation schools and playgrounds, etc., 
includes teachers' salaries only. It is out of the question to 
learn the cost per pupil of a special subject such as cooking, 
sewing, or German. Nowhere in the report is set forth the 
total cost of any single department. New York has two 
funds, a general fund raised by a 3-mill tax made compulsory 
by the charter for paying salaries. So on pp. 101 and 102 
appear salary disbursements of teachers and principals under 
twelve different headings. In addition to this salary fund the 
schools also have a large appropriation for supplies, repairs, 
fuel, salaries of janitors, etc. This report does not bring 
together those two costs. Significant administrative items 
are not kept distinct, but are jumbled up with other items. 
For example, salaries of substitutes are included in salaries 
of regular teachers. This is proper unless the school authori- 
ties wish to know how much the substitute teachers cost. 
If it is true that the employment of substitutes is occasioned 
by sickness or leave of absence on the part of regular teachers 
or lack of applications from teachers suitable for permanent 
positions, it would seem that the cost of substitutes would 
answer important administrative questions. The cost of 
superintendence is not totaled or distributed. The number 
of pupils in corporate schools which receive $282,000 subsidy 
is not given. "Miscellaneous" includes annuities of retired 
teachers, and amounts to $614,000, — a rather large un- 
classified total. Neither percentages nor subtraction are 
used to indicate the change from last year, increase or decrease 



1 66 EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 

in various branches of expenditure, etc. The superintendent 
of supplies, by a very few simple changes in business meth- 
ods, has been able during the last two or three years to save 
several hundred thousand dollars while increasing efficiency. 
So large and prompt were the economies and so convincing the 
sub-committee's argument in favor of improved methods of 
accounting and reporting throughout the school system, that 
in February, 1906, the Board declared in favor of a modern 
system of account and record and took certain first steps to 
insure such system. Unfortunately this change was not 
at first welcomed by those immediately responsible, and its 
logical development was not insisted upon by the directors. 
But the results of a partial test have been notable and con- 
vincing ; extension is inevitable. 

Reasoning from Fact 

Where business methods are lacking, reasoning is likely 
to be illogical and inconsequential. For example, the para- 
graph that introduces the financial statements (pp. 100 ff.) 
reads : 

" The amount expended for supplies . . . shows surprisingly vary- 
ing rates of increase and decrease. In 1899-1900 there was a decrease 
of 3.6 per cent. ; in the following year there was an increase of 13.6 per 
cent.; in the next year a decrease of 11.1 per cent.; in the next year 
an increase of 19.2 per cent. ; in 1904-5 there was again a decrease of 
8.5 per cent., while last year there was a decrease of 12.5 per cent. 
The first, if not the only, conclusion to be drawn from these figures is 
that an enforced and probably unwise economy in any one year 
necessitates a greatly increased expenditure the following year. Alter- 
nate famine and profusion in the matter of school supplies is a bad 
thing for the schools and their pupils. The very possibility of such an 
alternation shows the necessity of having a stable income for our special 
fund as we have under the law a stable income for our general fund." 

Entirely different conclusions are possible from the fore- 
going figures. The accounting method of learning the 



A PRACTICAL STUDY OF ONE SCHOOL REPORT 167 

significance of alternate increase and decrease in a sup- 
ply appropriation would begin with questions somewhat as 
follows: Are the increase and decrease due to the fact that 
goods were bought and paid for in one year and not used until 
the next year? If the distribution of supplies is sufficiently 
controlled, how can going without supplies one year "necessi- 
tate a greatly increased expenditure next year"? Whether 
the schools suffer in lean years and in what way the report 
does not state. That supplies were wasted in fat years the 
report seems to admit but does not prove. Whether supplies 
were evenly distributed per capita over lean and fat years 
would be shown by a proper supply account. The per- 
centage increase and decrease are based upon changes in 
cash payments, but have no necessary relation whatever to 
changes in the goods consumed by school children. The 
supply account should tell of pencils and papers and desks 
given out during a school year. Without such record of goods 
consumed no board can tell whether changes in cash dis- 
bursed for supplies mean "unwise economy" and "alternate 
famine and profusion." 

Why Children drop Out 

High school mortality is explained not by facts gathered, 
as in Detroit, but by a priori reasoning. Detroit says 119 
first-year pupils dropped out of high school: 

Table 121. Detroit 

Because of illness 23 

Because of illness in the family 4 

Because of failing sight 2 

Because of work 41 

Transferred 6 

Left city 10 

Indifference to school 9 

Music 1 

Cause unknown 23 

119 



[08 EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 

The New York report accounts for the dropping out of 
one third the pupils in the city's high schools as follows : 

"Undoubtedly the chief cause is that many leave to go to work. 
Probably in the majority of such cases the necessity of earning money 
is the controlling motive. Such students generally take supplementary 
courses in the evening high schools. Others . . . leave . . . because of 
that restlessness of mind that comes to all students at the period of 
adolescence and which is particularly marked amid the excitements of 
a large city." 

The report continues without data that in other cities 
at least it does not seem impossible to obtain. 

"The following explanations are approximately true: i. Children 
leave school because they have not the natural ability to cope with 
high school studies. The number of such children is, in my judg- 
ment, small. 

2. Children are withdrawn from high school by their parents because 
the latter fear that their children's health will be injured by what they 
regard as the excessive amount of home study required by some teachers. 

3. Children leave high school because they are bewildered for a time 
and sometimes scared by a school atmosphere very different from the 
atmosphere of the elementary school which they left — an atmosphere 
in which the teacher stands more aloof and in which the pupil is thrown 
more on his own resources. 

4. A few pupils leave before graduation because they find that there 
are colleges which will receive them, despite their slender academic 
attainments, into the freshman class." 

School Census 

The census blank, if properly used after being filled out, 
could have thrown much needed light upon school ques- 
tions. 



A PRACTICAL STUDY OF ONE SCHOOL REPORT 169 



fc 









h- 1 




H 




< 




U 




P 




Q 




W 




Pn 




O 




H 




£ 




W 





3 





H 


M 


P4 


~ 


< 


w 


Ph 


pq 


W 


O 


Q 


H 


I 


O 




en" 

P 





B 


>H 


W 


£ 


J 
3 


w 


h- 1 


£ 


(4 


pq 


w 


O 


p-1 


>H 




H 
t—i 


£ 


O 


H 


W 




w 




H 
1 




1 
X! 




£ 




O 




p< 




pq 




W 




a 




H 




<n 




(N 




H 




H 




i-l 




H 




<U 




H 











•a 




u 











































-j 






s 




a 


p 


5n 

a 









Q | 






-j 








>< 

ij 







55 


e 

5 


- 


a 








b 

y 












d 

y 












1 











n 








1 














d 


•3 

3 






















eg 










3 










ft 




ft 

fa 


« 








* 



















? 






ba 





















-a 


'a 


5 






s 






3 


u 


►j 








> 












u 


>-> 






K 






M 






M 


:>. 




-3 


E 
























a 


=1 







< 


>< 




fa 

D 






d 






fa 






CO 


c3 


< 




(J 










O 






to 




O 

O 


to 1 










M 




























ft 






H 


3 








> 




03 






3 






Z. 


H-i 








w 




O 
O 
►J 
fa 






d 



1 




i 




c 
2 


0> 

u 

c 
- 


PM 




>> 

si 
















w 




t-4 
O 


2; 






§ 




H 

H 


£ 








c 






?5 




















1) 


* w 


H 
55 


> 






ft 






















SS 




M 
< 

Phi 

Eh 


O 






< 














m 










3 




a 
a 


'S 


Q 






O 













3 


2 






H 












Ph 


< 














3 
















PQ 






5! 








jd 














55 








fa 






















H 

< 


























d 




«a 


e3 








H-l 








1—1 




3 


id 

a 

cd 

U 


























t^ 






















H 


















*o 








a 














H 






23 




Q 




H 












>>» 






W 
















a> 






H 
















X 






H 








to 








M 















* 






ffi 













55 




H 




















H 








* 


CO 












S 
< 

55 


n 


n 




<: 
a 

w 

H 


H 




a 
s 


d 

1 






2 




fa 

< 









£ 





pq 









co 


ft 




H 




c 









fa 

O 




Ifl 

< 














u 




















H 






O 
















a 
< 
55 





O 






CO 

13 


O 






C\ 










< 


z 

> 


3 


PS 
<! 

w 






'3 
P 


y 






00 






Q 


c 
























J 
















r- 




s 








K 




p- 




w 














e 




pq 
g 
P 
55 













O 


in a 

■< ci 

p 05 






1 




















H 


J 




H 














« 






W 
W 
« 
Eh 
1/1 


d 
O 

£ 












m 
W 
p5 






*f 


| 






i2 ua 




a S W " 


52S'2 




>. a 




7! P P 


tn fl ^ 




d u b k 


(L) d ^ 




K — ° O 


^^ S£ 




"S "2 "2 


8 | - 




•^ 1 2 2 

O 3 In M 


H ru -d t3 




^•2 2 


w d |3 


! , 


■"■333 


*3!3 U 


a 


•a ° u 


°t:!5 t n~iO*;>»dd 


O 







ddddddddd 
.2 ° .° .° .2 .2 .2 .2 

dddcjidcjddd 
ooooooouo 

OOOOOOOOQ 
ijH-lfaKlfafafafafa 



22 



£,(£&%£'?;&&& 



h 2 ^ 
b 2 ° 

^3 -d co 



g 3 fa ffl H 

O U O <J o 



S ,Q J2 ,0 XI ^3 _ 

co d d d 3 d =a 



S co -d 

H "3 co 

o 3 «j 

3 g s s* a 



_ .. _ „ .. C G 3 

PMPHfafafaPHfapHPH 



170 EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 

One can see how easy it is to fill in the facts so that any one 
using the foregoing blank can locate the child and classify 
any particular set of facts. For example, the children ille- 
gally out of school and physically unable to attend school 
were referred promptly to the Attendance Department for 
visit and proper attention. With such a card it would be 
equally easy to take the steps suggested in Chapter V for 
making a permanent useful register. If, however, no attempt 
is made to verify the census, if its results are not to be com- 
pared district by district with school records, this card is, 
of course, little better than the old census book. 

The benefits resulting from New York's last census fully 
justified the expense involved. It found 9,799 children 
illegally at work and 6,41 1 others illegally detained at home. 
Visits of the police when taking the census and the subse- 
quent efforts of the Attendance Department secured the return 
of many of these absentees to school. The listing of 217 
crippled, 1,448 deaf and dumb, and 84 blind made it possible 
first to learn their location and home condition and later to 
devise plans for their care and instruction. The fact that the 
police were careless in their methods, that they passed by 
many hundred crippled and blind, that they apparently 
failed to find several thousand children actually registered 
in school and several thousand others illegally working or 
detained at home, by no means proves the census a failure. 
After the census a number of agencies interested in the 
school child petitioned for the proper classification and 
continued use of census data, and said that it was worth 
many times what the census cost "to discover 16,210 chil- 
dren illegally deprived of the education to which they are 
entitled and which for its own good the city insists upon 
their having." Of even greater importance, if properly 
used, was the knowledge that many thousands of children 
were counted on the registers of two schools and that as a 
consequence the per capita cost of education is understated. 



A PRACTICAL STUDY OF ONE SCHOOL REPORT 171 

The follow-up work has, however, not been done; the census 
records arc buried in the store-room, and another great 
opportunity has been lost to save nine stitches by taking 
one in time, to help the cause of education by locating more 
clearly its problems. 

Physical Needs of Children 

Can school records help us decide whether the physical 
defects of school children shall be remedied or corrected by 
free school lunches, free eyeglasses, and material relief at 
school, or by education, food, eyeglasses, and relief at home ? 
Shall matters involving enormous expense and important 
tendencies be decided by guesses, impulses, popular vote, — 
or by analysis of fact? At first free lunches were recom- 
mended, and then in this last report lunches at cost and free 
eyeglasses. No facts have been presented justifying such 
free distribution except the fact, which is significant to many, 
that European cities have tried to cure the evils of poverty 
and non-employment by giving things away to school chil- 
dren. The New York report offers no evidence in support 
of relief at school other than belief. 

Perhaps no part of the report under review indicates more 
clearly the importance of classified information than Appen- 
dix R (p. 441) : The Medical Inspection and Examination 
of School Children during 1906. This report offered splendid 
opportunity to disclose social conditions and social needs; 
to prove the advantage that is immediately resulting from 
the correction of physical defects; to show in how many 
instances parents and teachers have failed to remove those 
defects; to point out the districts and the schools hitherto 
denied the benefits of physical examination and to plead for 
money enough to give such benefits to all children in all 
schools in all boroughs. It is probably because such infor- 
mation is lacking that the recommendations of the super- 



172 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 



intendent did not include a request for additional inspectors 
or nurses for the examination of children and the education 
of their parents. At a critical time when the fiscal authorities 
of the city had become thoroughly interested in the possi- 
bility of saving millions in the future by extending this health 
protection over all districts, the official report of the schools 
came out and did not even suggest that more money was 
needed for discovering the pupils needing attention and for 
insuring such attention. The Board of Health has taken 
steps to supply such information next year as per the follow- 
ing forms : 

Table 123. New York Board of Health 

MEDICAL INSPECTION OF SCHOOL CHILDREN FOR 
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES, 1906 



a 



Field of Inspection 
Total number of public schools . . 

Registration 

Public schools under inspection . . 

Registration 

Other schools under inspection . . 

Registration 

Total schools under inspection . . 
Total registration of schools under 

inspection 

Schools in which there are nurses 
Registration 

Visits to Schools 
By inspectors to public schools 
By inspectors to other schools 
Average per school per year . 

Public schools. 

Other schools 



A PRACTICAL STUDY OF ONE SCHOOL REPORT 173 



MEDICAL INSPECTION OF SCHOOL CHILDREN FOR 
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES, 1906 — {Continued) 



Examinations 

"Morning" examinations of chil- 
dren by inspectors* 

General communicable diseases 
found 

"Routine" examinations by in- 
spectors! 

Cases found, eye and skin diseases 

"Routine" examinations bynursesf 

Cases found, eye and skin diseases 

Special "routine" examinations by 
inspectors for trachoma .... 

Cases found 

Total general communicable dis- 
eases found in schools .... 

Total cases found in schools, eye 
and skin diseases 

Visits to Homes 

By inspectors 

By nurses 



O 



* In " morning " examinations, the inspectors examine the children re- 
ferred to them by teachers or nurses as suspected cases, or children return- 
ing to school after absence on account of sickness. 

f " Routine " examinations are made by nurses in schools where there 
are nurses, otherwise by inspectors. The entire class is examined to dis- 
cover any cases of skin and eye diseases except trachoma, for which a spe- 
cial " routine " examination is made by inspectors only. 



174 



EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 



Table 124. New York Board of Health 

MEDICAL EXAMINATION OF SCHOOL CHILDREN: NON- 
CONTAGIOUS PHYSICAL DEFECTS FOUND AND 
TREATED, 1906 





NEW YORK 


MANHATTAN 




Found 


Reported 

Treated 


Found 


Reported 
Treated 


Defects 


No. 


"3 

H 
m 


No. 


O 3 
^ O 

PL, 


No. 


13 

H 

Oh 


No. 


«-. a 
=s 

fit* 

U f 

PL, 


Adenoids 

Defective vision . . . 

Defective hearing . . 

Bad nutrition .... 

Diseased anterior cervi- 
cal glands .... 

Diseased posterior cervi- 
cal glands .... 

Chorea 

Heart disease . . . 

Pulmonary disease . . 

Skin disease .... 

Deformity of spine . . 

Deformity of chest . . 

Deformity of extremi- 
ties 

Nasal breathing . . . 

Defective teeth . • . . 

Defective palate . . . 

Hypertrophied tonsils . 

Defective mentality 


















Total 



















A PRACTICAL STUDY OF ONE SCHOOL REPORT 175 



Table 125. New York Board of Health 

PROMOTIONS AMONG CHILDREN TREATED AND NOT 
TREATED FOR ADENOIDS, 1906 

(Selected list of schools) 



School Number 
School Number 
School Number 



During First Half of Term 



Found needing D „„„.»„ j t'.»„.»j Not known to be 
Treatment Reported T reated Trea{ed 





TREATED 


NOT TREATED 




Promoted 


Not 
Promoted 


Discon- 
tinued 


Promoted 


Not 
Promoted 


Discon- 




No. 


Per 
Cent 


No. 


Per 
Cent 


No. 


Per 
Cent 


No. 


Per 
Cent 


tinued 


School Number ■ . . . 

School Number ■ . . . 

School Number . . . 























Table 126. New York Board of Health 

NATIONALITY OF SCHOOL CHILDREN NEEDING TREAT- 
MENT, 1906 



Children found needing treatment . 

Native born 

Foreign born 

Percentage foreign born .... 
One or both parents foreign born 
Percentage of total 



New 
York 



Man- 
hattan 



Brook- 
lyn 



Queens 



Rich- 
mond 



Comparing City with City 

As to educational results no tables are given to compare 
New York with other cities and few tables to compare one 
year in New York with preceding years. 



176 educational statistics 

Circulating School Facts 

The circulation of a school report, like that of any other 
document, will influence its character. Writers and speakers 
unconsciously respond to their audience. Two years ago 
the New York Board of Education was urged to place copies 
of the superintendent's report in the hands of all teachers 
on the ground that more earnest and more intelligent work 
would result. It was decided that it would cost too much 
to address in this way 15,000 teachers, inviting their criticism, 
experiences, and constructive suggestions. When, however, 
the cost of reprints is compared with the $36,000,000 spent 
last year, it would seem a small price to pay for enlisting the 
intelligent sympathy of the teaching staff. In cities where 
the expense of sending the complete report to all teachers 
seems prohibitive, it is at least worth while to consider the 
advisability and ultimate economy of printing a brief digest 
of the extended report so that no teacher shall be without this 
condensed message from her superior officer. If the super- 
intendent of schools sees before him his principals and 
teachers, he will be cautious about making statements that 
their daily experience disproves. He will try to be as logical, 
as convincing, as inspiring, as professional, as they expect 
him to be. If, on the other hand, he addresses commissioners 
whom he does not expect to read his report, and an exchange 
list to whom his recommendations will not be vital, he will 
not feel bound to live up to a high pedagogical or literary 
standard. Any superintendent aiming to secure public 
support of a progressive school policy will advance that 
policy by insisting upon a general circulation of his report 
and upon writing up to that circulation. In New York City 
one evening newspaper is recognized as the unofficial organ 
of the Board of Education and of the teaching world. Nat- 
urally, therefore, other papers give little or no attention to 
many important items of school news, and as a consequence 



A PRACTICAL STUDY OF ONE SCHOOL REPORT 177 

a large part of the reading public is ill-informed as to poli- 
cies thai have been freely discussed in this one newspaper. 
It is worth serious consideration on the part of superin- 
tendents in other cities and of state superintendents of 
schools, whether in the long run it is not to the advantage of 
public education to enlist the interest and cooperation of all 
newspapers, to use every occasion for placing before parents, 
taxpayers, and city officials significant facts with regard to 
school progress and school needs. 

Outside Criticism 

Because the highest purpose of a school report is to 
educate the community whose school work it describes, it 
is important to determine the attitude of a school report 
toward inquiring citizens. It is not necessary that every 
report should apostrophize the interested volunteer. It is 
desirable, however, that every report tell volunteers what 
they can do next year to help the schools ; what school prob- 
lems remain unsolved ; what change in public sentiment or 
what increase in public support is needed. The New York 
report repeatedly recognizes the need for outside intelligence 
as to inside movements. On p. 121 the superintendent 
appeals for more vacation schools, public baths, gardens, etc., 
which, 

"affording as they do, congenial employment, wholesome recreation, 
and (to a limited extent) means of cleanliness, have become the most 
effective means (outside of the regular day schools) of promoting the 
mental, moral, and physical welfare of the children in the poorer neigh- 
borhoods of the city. More money is needed for their maintenance. I 
firmly believe that every thoughtful citizen, who examines the results of 
these activities, will join with the Board of Education in asking the 
Board of Estimate and Apportionment to be more liberal in the future 
in providing for the support of vacation schools and playgrounds." 

It is unfortunate for the thoughtful person who looks for 
results that the phrase "to a limited extent" must take the 
place of a clear statement of the schools lacking public baths 
and of poorer neighborhoods lacking vacation schools. His 



178 EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 

efforts would have been more easily enlisted if the number 
of children without bathing facilities had been stated, and if 
the number enjoying such facilities had not been confused 
by counting baths given as individual bathers. 

The summary of recommendations (p. 133 ff.) contains 13 
propositions, 8 of which could not be put into effect without 
general public cooperation, and all of which require for their 
successful execution a public informed as to school needs and 
school results. These recommendations are so worded as 
to appeal to public sympathy. All of them assume school 
experience that can be described with such definiteness as to 
place beyond controversy the facts themselves, leaving open 
to controversy or difference of opinion only the interpreta- 
tion of those facts and the remedies proposed. 

The results that may be expected from the repeated ap- 
peal of school reports to community intelligence are nowhere 
better outlined than in the closing paragraph (p. 132) of 
the Report of the City Superintendent of Schools for 1905 : 

"Nor are city agencies the only ones aiding the schools. 
The Public Schools Athletic League, of the work of which 
an account will be found in Appendix G, is doing invaluable 
work in stimulating through early development a generation 
of strong-limbed, clean-minded, manly youths. The Public 
Education Association, too, in a pedagogical way, is giving 
the schools the benefit of the watchful, outside criticism of 
high citizenship. The great universities are lavish in the pro- 
vision of courses in art, science, and literature, for teachers. 
Yet I feel that these are but beginnings, and I look forward 
with earnest hopefulness to the day when every educational 
agency, civic or endowed, will not feel its duty done until it 
contributes freely of its resources to the advancement and 
benefit of the great American and Americanizing institution 
of free education." 



INDEX 



Adenoids, inspection of children for, 
174; promotions among children 
treated and not treated for (New 
York, 1906), 175. 

Age of pupils, statistics of, in reports, 58- 
63, 120; facts relating to, which might 
be included, 63; in attendance at 
evening schools, 92, 93; double distri- 
bution table of grade and, 132; table 
showing relation between, and attend- 
ance at evening high school, 134. 

Alphabetical topical index suggested 
for reports, 153. 

Attendance, reports showing, 32; part- 
time, 50; statistics of, in reports, 
52-57; persistency of ("survival"), 
69-78; the matter of compulsory, 
79, 123-124; statistics of compul- 
sory, in tables, 79-83; decline in, at 
high schools, shown in school reports, 
86-89; statistics of, at evening 
schools, in reports, 90-95, 125; per- 
sistency of, at evening schools, 91-92, 
93, 125; questions answered and un- 
answered regarding, in reports, 121- 
122 ; records of, and age distribution, 
134; statistics which might be of 
value concerning compulsory, 141. 

Attendance department, record cards 
for use of, 146-150. 

Averages, misleading by, 161-162. 

Baltimore, system of promotion in, 68; 
illustrative table from school report 
of, 69. 

Baths, statistics of public school, given 
in reports, 98, 177-178. 

Boards, school, character and quality of 
members of, 5. 

Boston, early school report of (1857), 
13-14; illustrative tables from re- 
ports of, 53, 60-61, 64, 73, 105. 

Brookline, Mass., tables from reports 
of, 37, 39- 



Brooklyn, first school report published 
in (1854), 12; illustrative table from 
report of, 66. 

Brown, Elmer E., Commissioner of 
Education, 26. 

Buffalo, tables from reports of, 31, 42, 
44, 82, 88-89, 94. 

Buildings, reports including list and 
description of, 29, 30; reports show- 
ing cost of, 23- See Plant. 

Cambridge, Mass., illustrative table 
from report of, 45-46, 96. 

Card records, 131-132, 143-150. 

Census, the school, objects and uses of, 
45; illustrative tables, 45-52; a 
common defect of, 49 ; use of card 
records in, 143-150; use of, in speci- 
men New York report, 1 68-1 71. 

Chicago, first school report published 
in (1853), 12; an early school 
report of, 13; illustrative tables from 
reports of, 42-43, 52, 58, 67, 87-88, 
91, 92, 101, 106. 

Children employed, census statistics of 
(Philadelphia), 47. 

Children to be educated, questions 
answered and unanswered regard- 
ing, in reports, 120-12 1. 

Cincinnati, tables from reports of, 35, 
40, 47, 68. 

Classification, of statistics, 138-143; 
of totals in giving statistics, 159- 
160. 

Class rooms, reports giving statistics 
as to, 32; questions regarding, to be 
answered in reports, 119. 

Cleveland, first school report published 
in, 12; an early school report of, 13; 
tables from reports of, 36, 57. 

Committees, school, character and 
quality of members of, 5. 

Comparison of school with school, 
table for, 162. 



179 



i8o 



INDEX 



Compulsory attendance, 79-83, 123- 

124, 141. 
Condensation in reports, 154. 
Connecticut, illustrative table from 

state report of, 44; plan of ranking 

superintendents in, 161. 
Cost, statistics of, of evening schools, 95. 
Cost of education, reports showing, 

34-45- 

Cost of school buildings, reports show- 
ing, 33- 

Cost of schools, according to New York 
City report, 164-166. 

Deportment, classification of statistics 

relating to, 140. 
Detroit, illustrative tables from reports 

of, 29, 30, 38, 68, 75, 77, 78, 167; 

high school mortality in, 167. 
Diseases, medical inspection for, 101- 

103, 126-127, 171-175. 
Distance from school and persistency 

of attendance, relation between, 

shown in register, 134. 
District of Columbia, tables from re- 
ports of, 51, 76. 
Districts, uniformity in reports of, 160- 

161. 
Divoll, Ira, 17. 

Dropping out. See Mortality. 
Duluth, table from report of, 107-108. 

Eaton, John, 21. 

Economies in preparing reports: first, 
data to be collected, 128-129; 
second, methods of collecting sta- 
tistics, 129-134; third, regarding 
publication of statistical tables in 
school reports, 134-135. 

Editing of reports, 153. 

Education, reports showing cost of, 

34-45- 

Elementary schools, statistics of teachers 
in, 106. 

Employment of children between 13 
and 16 years old, statistics of, 47. 

Enrollment, questions as to, answered 
and unanswered in reports, 121-122. 

Erie, Pa., illustrative tables from re- 
ports of, 106, 113. 

Evening schools, statistics of, in re- 
ports, 90-95; questions as to, an- 
swered and unanswered in reports, 

Examinations, medical, 101-103, 126- 
127, 171-175. 



Expenditures on schools, comparison 
of, in tabular form, 35-38; report of 
receipts and, 110-112; questions 
answered and left unanswered regard- 
ing receipts and, n 9-1 20; possibil- 
ity of schemes of classification regard- 
ing, 138; treatment of, in specimen 
report, 164-167. 

Eyeglasses, free, viii, x, i7r. 

Financial administration of schools, 
suggested improvement in, 136-139. 
See Expenditures. 

Free meals, eyeglasses, etc., viii, x, 171. 

Fuel consumption, statistics of, 137-138. 

Gove, Mr., on school statistics, 24. 
Grand Rapids, illustrative tables from 

reports of, 83, 109, 114. 
Greenwood, Superintendent, of Kansas 

City, 25. 

Harris, Commissioner, report of, on 
school statistics, 25. 

Health, classification of statistics relat- 
ing to, 139. See Medical inspection. 

High school buildings, statistics of 
cost of, in school report, ^3- 

High schools, number of graduates 
from grades who enter, 75; persist- 
ency of attendance at, 76-78; sta- 
tistics of, in reports, 83-90. 

Home Conditions, Report on, of 1400 
Families, etc., x, 141. 

Homes, classification of statistics re- 
garding conditions in, 140-141. 

Index, alphabetical topical, suggested 
for reports, 153. 

Individual, records giving facts regard- 
ing the, 142-143. 

Interpretation of statistics, 6, 136. 

Kansas City, illustrative table from 
school report of, 110-T12. 

Libraries, statistics of school, given in 

report, 98-100. 
Lunches, free, viii, 171. 

McMillan, Andrew, quoted on lack of 
uniformity in presenting statistics, 
22-23. 

Maintenance of schools, report showing 
cost of, 38. 



INDEX 



181 



Map of school districts, 155-156. 

Medical inspection of schools, x; re- 
ports of, 101-103, 1 71—175 ; ques- 
tions as to, answered and unan- 
swered in reports, 126-127. 

Milwaukee, illustrative tables from 
school reports of, 49, 63, 79. 

Moral character, classification of sta- 
tistics relating to, 140. 

Morning examinations of children, 173. 

Mortality, grade, 69-78; high school, 
167-168. 

National Educational Association, 18; 
efforts of, to improve school reports 
and to secure uniformity, 20-27. 

Nationality of children needing medi- 
cal treatment (New York, 1906), 175. 

Needs of schools, explanation of, 163- 
164. 

Newark, illustrative tables from re- 
ports of, 32, 51, 54, 97, 105. 

New Haven, first school report of (1857), 
13; illustrative tables from reports of , 
3 2 > 33. 4i, 84-85. 

New Orleans, illustrative tables from 
reports of, 65-66, 100. 

New York Board of Health, tables of 
medical inspection of schools, 172- 

i75- 
New York City, first school report 
published in (1843), I2 i description 
of 8th report of (1850), 17-18; il- 
lustrative tables from reports of, 33, 
50, 59, 62, 66, 75, 78, 80-81, 85, 96, 
97-98, 99, 102-103, JS^iSS. 1 5 6 ~ 
157, 163, 169; important questions 
unanswered in reports of, 1 18-127; 
a practical study of one report of, 
151-178; school tax of, 152. 

Omaha, illustrative table from school 
report of, 55. 

Parental schools, statistics involving, in 

school reports, 79-83. 
Part-time attendance, statistics of, 50- 

52- 
Paterson, illustrative table from report 

of, 100. 
Pawtucket, illustrative table from 

report of, 104. 
Per capita cost of schools shown in 

tables in school report, 42-43. 
Persistency of attendance ("survival"), 

statistics of, in school reports, 69-78; 



at evening schools, 91-92, 93; statis- 
tics of, in school register, 134. 

Philadelphia, first school report pub- 
lished in (181 8), 12; an early school 
report of, 13; illustrative tables from 
reports of, 46-47, 71, 93. 

Physical needs of children, 171-173. 

Physical record of schools, report of, 
102-103. 

Pittsburg, illustrative table from report 
of, 56. 

Plant, the school, specimen forms of 
report on, 29-33; certain important 
questions regarding, 118-119. 

Playgrounds, statistics of, in reports, 
97-98; questions as to, answered 
and unanswered in reports, 126, 164, 
177. 

Primary schools, statistics of promo- 
tions in, in school report, 64. 

Promotions, statistics of, in reports, 
63-69, 87-88; statistics which would 
be of value concerning, 141-142; 
among children treated and not 
treated for adenoids, 175. 

Publication of reports, question of, 129. 

Publicity the primary standard for 
school reports, 8, 176-178. 

Pupils, age of, given in school reports, 
58-63; dropping out of, 69-78, 167- 
168. 

Questions, answered and unanswered 
in reports, 118-127, 177-178; asked 
by readers of reports, 163. 

Reading, Pa., illustrative table from 

school report of, 103-104. 
Real estate, reports including valua- 
tion of, 29. 
Recapitulation form used in report, 

107-108. 
Receipts and expenditures, report of, 

110-112; questions answered and 

left unanswered regarding, 1 19-120. 
Record cards, 131-132, 143-145; as 

used by attendance department, 146- 

150. 
Registers for entering data, 130-134. 
Repetition, avoidance of, in reports, 

154. 
Reporting, uniform basis of district, 

160-161. 
Reports. See School reports. 
Rochester, N.Y., first school report 

published in (1843), I2 > description 



1 82 



INDEX 



of earliest school report of, available 

(1872), 15-16. 
Roof playgrounds, statistics of, 97-98. 
Routine examinations of children, 173. 

St. Louis, first school report published 
in (1854), 12; statistical features of 
16th school report of (1870), and dis- 
cussion of by superintendent, 16- 
17; illustrative tables from reports 
of, S3, 5 6 , 6l , 62 » 7°, 74, 9 1 , 95, I0 S, 
US- 
Salary schedules of teachers in reports, 
105-106. 

San Francisco, first school report pub- 
lished in (1853), 12; description of 
earliest report of, available (1867), 14. 

School census, 145-150, 168-171. 

School needs, explanation of, in reports, 
163-164. 

School plant, forms of report on, 29-33; 
questions to be answered regarding, 
118-119. 

School property, reports including 
description of, 30. 

School reports, typical, 1-2; causes of 
present form of, 2-3; statistical 
tables in, 3; analysis of aims sub- 
served by, 3-5; distinction between 
administrative and published, 6-8; 
effective publicity the primary stand- 
ard for, 8, 1 76 ff . ; progress of, in direc- 
tion of publicity and administrative 
control, 8-9 ; points in which lacking, 
9; possibility of accomplishing more 
in educational statistics at smaller 
cost of time and money, 9-10; begin- 
nings of, 1 1 ; first publication of, in dif- 
ferent cities, 12; character of early, 
12-18; slight advance in, since 1870, 
18-19; lack of uniformity in, in pre- 
senting educational statistics, 18-19; 
efforts of National Educational Asso- 
ciation to improve and to secure uni- 
formity in, 20-27; tables showing 
methods used in (1901-1906), 28- 
115; lack of excellence in statistics 
in, 116; poor systems of comparison 
and classification in, 116-117; lack 
of economy in, 117 ; vital elements to 
be remembered when compiling, 117- 
118; important questions unan- 
swered by, 1 1 8-1 2 7; suggested econ- 
omies and improvements for, 128 ff. ; 
data to be collected for, 128-129; 
question of annual publication of, 129 ; 



conditions under which primary data 
are collected for, 129-134; economy 
in publication of statistical tables in, 
134-135; a practical study of one 
report, 151 ff.; possibilities of, 151- 
152; technical methods in, 152; al- 
phabetical topical index for, 153; 
typographical technique of, 153; 
condensation in, 154-156; summary 
tables in, 156-159; classification of 
totals in, 159-160; uniformity in 
reports from districts urged, 160-161; 
averages in, misleading, 161-162; 
comparison of school with school, 162 ; 
questions which might be asked by 
readers of, 163 ; explanation of school 
needs in, 163-164; cost of schools as 
given in New York report, 164-166; 
school mortality accounted for in, 
167-168; school census in, 168-171; 
physical needs of children according 
to New York report, 1 71-17 5; the 
circulation of, 176-177; attitude of, 
toward the community interested, 
177-178; results that may be ex- 
pected from, 178. 
Seating capacity, reports showing, 32, 

33- 

Service, table in report showing term 
of, 105. 

Sittings, table of, 154. 

Snedden, David S., x. 

Special classes, questions as to, answered 
and left unanswered in reports, 124- 
125. 

Springfield, Mass., illustrative tables 
from reports of, 30, 41, 48, 72, 81, 84, 
85-86. 

Statistics, in school reports, 3-4; inter- 
pretation an important feature of, 6, 
136; primary aim of educational, to 
present fuller answers to possible 
questions at less expenditure of time 
and money than now, 9; in early 
school reports, 13-18; in reports 
since 1870, 18-19; consideration of 
subject of, by National Educational 
Association, 20-24; report of Com- 
missioner Harris on, 25; of high 
schools, 25-26; interest taken in, by 
Commissioner Elmer E. Brown, 26; 
illustrative tables of methods of pre- 
senting, 28-115; regarding school 
plant, 29-33; of attendance, 32, 52- 
57, 146-150; of class rooms, 32; of 
seating capacity, 32, 33; of cost of 



INDEX 



183 



school buildings, 33 ; of cost of edu- 
cation, 34-45; in the school census, 
45-52; of age of pupils, 58-63; of 
promotions, 63-60, 87-88; of per- 
sistency of attendance ("survival"), 
69-78; of compulsory attendance, 
70-83; of high schools, 83-90; of 
evening schools, 90-95; vacation 
schools, 95-98; of playgrounds, 96- 
97; of school libraries, 98-100; of 
medical inspection of schools, 101- 
103; of teachers, 103-106; of school 
receipts and expenditures, 110-112; 
suggestions as to what data should be 
collected, 128-129; economies sug- 
gested in methods of collecting, 129- 
134; economy which might be prac- 
ticed in publication of tables of, in 
reports, 134-135; of fuel consumption, 
137-138; improvement in classifica- 
tion of, 138-143; giving facts regard- 
ing each individual pupil (card 
record), 143 ff. ; necessity of classify- 
ing totals in giving, 159-160. 
Summary tables in reports, 36-37, 

io7-"S. i5 6_I 59- 

Superintendent of schools, origins of 
office of, 11; circulation of school 
facts by report of, 176-177. 

Survival, statistics of, 69-78. See 
Persistency of attendance. 

Syracuse, N.Y., first school report pub- 
lished in (1847), 12; statistical fea- 
tures of 20th school report of (1867), 
14-15- 



Tallies, illustrating methods used in 

school reports, 2H-115; economy in 

publication of statistical, 134-135. 
Tax, school, of New York City, 152. 
Teachers, statistics of, in reports, 103- 

106. 
Text-books, free, cost of, shown in table 

in school report, 41. 
Totals, classification of, 159-160. 
Trachoma, medical inspection for, 173. 
Truancy, 79-83, 147, 148; questions as 

to, answered and left unanswered in 

reports, 123-124. 
Tuition, cost of, shown in table in 

school report, 42. 
Typographical technique of reports, 153. 

Uniformity in presenting school sta- 
tistics, efforts after, 20-27. 

Vacation schools, statistics of, in re- 
ports, 95-98; important questions 
to be answered regarding, 126; treat- 
ment of subject in specimen New 
York City report, 164, 177-178. 

Washington, D.C., illustrative tables 

from reports of, 87, 
Wilmington, tables from reports of, 55, 

86. 
Winship, A. E., quoted, 24. 
Withdrawal of pupils, statistics of, in 

reports, 69-78. 
Woods, Halle D., 20. 



PIONEER HISTORY SERIES 

By CHARLES A. McMURRY 

Designed as a complete series of early history stories of the Eastern, 
Middle, and Western States, suitable as an introduction for 
children to American History. Illustrated and equipped with 
maps. 

Cloth xamo 40 cents each 



Pioneers on Land and Sea 

The first of the three volumes deals with the chief ocean explorers, 
Columbus and Magellan, and with the pioneers of the Eastern States, 
Canada, and Mexico, such as Champlain, Smith, Hudson, De Leon, Cortes. 
These stories furnish the gateway through which the children of our Atlantic 
States should enter the fields of History. The attempt is to render these 
complete and interesting stories, making the experiences of pioneer life as 
graphic and real as possible. 

Pioneers of the Mississippi Valley 

Such men as La Salle, Boone, Robertson, George Rogers Clark, Lincoln, 
and Sevier supply a group of simple biographical stories which give the 
children a remarkably good introduction to History. Teachers are begin- 
ning to believe that children should begin with tales of their oWn home and 
of neighboring states, and then move outward from this centre. For eastern 
children these stories form a very suitable continuation to " Pioneers on 
Land and Sea," and vice versa. 

Pioneers of the Rocky Mountains and the West 

In some respects these western stories are more interesting and striking 
than those of the states farther east, because of their physical surroundings. 
Children of the Western or Mountain States should enjoy these stories first. 
The various exploring expeditions which opened up the routes across the 
plains and mountains are full of interesting and instructive incidents and 
of heroic enterprise. The chief figures in these stories are men of the most 
striking and admirable qualities, and the difficulties and dangers which they 
overcame place them among the heroes who will always attract and instruct 
American children. Incidentally, these narratives give the best of all intro- 
ductions to western geography. They are largely made up from source 
materials furnished by the explorers themselves. 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

64-66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 
BOSTON CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO ATLANTA 



Source Readers in American History 

SELECTED AND ANNOTATED BY 

ALBERT BUSHNELL HART, of Harvard University 
IN FOUR VOLUMES. ILLUSTRATED 



No. I. Colonial Children - - - Price 40 cents, net 

No. II. Camps and Firesides in the Revolution. Price 50 cents, net 

No. III. How Our Grandfathers Lived - Price 60 cents, net 

No. IV. Romance of the Civil War ■ Price 60 cents, net 



Source Book of American History 

FOR SCHOOLS AND READERS 

Edited by ALBERT BUSHNELL HART, Ph.D. 

Editor of "American History told by Contemporaries," etc. 

Cloth, iatno. 6o cents, net 

"A volume that we have examined with close attention and can 
commend with confidence. In about four hundred pages of text, it 
finds room for something like one hundred and fifty examples of the 
original material of our history, from the voyages of Columbus to the 
Spanish-American War. The selections are judiciously made, edited, 
and annotated ; the introductory chapters for teachers are of the most 
helpful sort ; and the book is sold at so low a price that no secondary 
school in which American history is taught can find a reasonable excuse 
for not employing it as an adjunct to the regular manual." — The Dial. 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

64-66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 
BOSTON CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO ATLANTA 



006S 6 HV$ 
I 9 !308 



\" :; ■ ' ■• \\u\\ \m 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS m 

IllllllllllllllllllllllllillllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllliiiiV 



021 287 192 8 




